A tool for assessing interprofessional collaborative practice: evolution of the Jefferson Teamwork Observation Guide (JTOG)®

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ABSTRACT

The Jefferson Teamwork Observation Guide® (JTOG®), a multi-source tool to formatively assess interprofessional collaborative practice competencies, evolved from a need to teach learners the characteristics of high functioning teams. Over time, researchers developed and refined four versions of the tool – Team, Individual, Patient and Support Person – eliciting feedback from learners, providers, patients and family members to create 360-degree evaluations of team performance. Development of all four versions of the JTOG into a native mobile application facilitated workplace based assessment, enhancing the ability to collect real-time data, gather responses from a variety of stakeholders and provide timely feedback to practice teams and individuals. Several studies have found the JTOG to be feasible to administer in both educational and practice settings across all user groups. Data also suggest the tool is a valid measure of team performance and individual performance on teams. However, scores that trended high indicate the need for continued psychometric work and high demand for the tool highlights the importance of a more robust database and dynamic analytic support. Three main conclusions have emerged from our experience with the JTOG: there is a clear need for a competency-based assessment tool to assist educators and clinicians in improving team functioning; incorporating technology into assessment may help bridge the persistent gap between educational innovation in IPE and organizational change in practice; and an assessment strategy incorporating the voices of the patient and family is highly valued by key stakeholders and has the potential to influence patient experience.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional care
• interprofessional collaboration
• interprofessional education
• interprofessional evaluation
• evaluation research
• patient-centred practice

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The activities reported here were supported (in part) by the The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation [Macy Faculty Scholar Award, Collins, PI (2015–2017)].