Using the critical incident technique to measure long-term outcomes of interprofessional education

ABSTRACT

There is a critical need to develop methods that capture long-term trainee outcomes and link these outcomes to interprofessional education (IPE) to establish the value added from IPE. This article describes the use of the critical incident technique (CIT) to evaluate long-term trainee outcomes attributed to IPE. Critical incidents (CIs) are specific examples of behaviours that occurred within the recent past. Trainees of an IPE programme (n = 24) were interviewed using CIT. Across the trainees, 41 CIs were reported, of which 9 were collapsed due to similarity in theme. A final total of 32 CIs were mapped along the Kirkpatrick/Barr Model of Learner Outcomes. The mapping process revealed that all of the CIs reported described incidents at Levels 3, 4a, and 4b, indicating changes in trainees’ own professional behaviour and improvements in patient outcomes related to their IPE experience. Implications for evaluating IPE using the CIT method are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical incident technique
• interprofessional education
• outcome evaluation
• qualitative research

Declaration of interest

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

Funding

The development of the GaLEND evaluation and this article was supported in part by Project #T73MC19939 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (Public Health Service Act, Section 399BB (e)(1)(A), as amended by the Combating Autism Act of 2006) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (USDHHS) and by Grant #90DD0662 from the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities of the Administration on Community Living (USDHHS).

Additional information

Funding

The development of the GaLEND evaluation and this article was supported in part by Project #T73MC19939 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (Public Health Service Act, Section 399BB (e)(1)(A), as amended by the Combating Autism Act of 2006) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (USDHHS) and by Grant #90DD0662 from the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities of the Administration on Community Living (USDHHS).