Implementation and impact of an interprofessional education curriculum on medical, pharmacy, and social work students’ attitudes, perceptions, and self-assessed teamwork skills

ABSTRACT

Health professionals are actively contributing to interprofessional collaboration, yet implementation and assessment of interprofessional education (IPE) within Family Medicine is not well documented. From October 2014 to December 2018, social work, pharmacy, and medical students worked as an IP team involving inpatient, outpatient, and home visit experiences. Students completed two validated surveys pre- and post- their interprofessional education rotation: the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) and the Teams Skills Scale (TSS). Paired t-test analyses were conducted on individual pre- and post-survey scores. Twenty-seven (77%) of the 35 participating students completed pre- and post-surveys. Significant differences were found in mean change in pre-IEPS mean scores (4.95) and post-IEPS mean scores (5.29), with a mean difference in matched pairs of 0.31 (p < .001, p = 27). A significant difference was found in student pre-TSS mean scores (3.52) and post-TSS mean scores (4.31), with a mean difference in matched pairs of 0.79 (p < .0001, p = 27). Our findings demonstrate that the IPE curriculum had a positive impact on students’ attitudes and self-assessed teamwork skills, with greater learning outcomes identified amongst pharmacy and social work students than medical students. Implementing IP curriculum into Family Medicine experiences is both feasible and worthy of further investigation.

KEYWORDS:

• Curriculum implementation
• evaluation
• family medicine
• health and social cares
• interprofessional collaboration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Corinn Normandin

Corinn Normandin, PharmD, BCACP, CDOE, is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist and Supervisor in Primary Care for Maine Medical Center. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Normandin serves as the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Residency Program and is Faculty for the Family Medicine Residency Program at Maine Medical Center.

Vicki Hayes

Victoria Hayes, MD, is a Family Medicine physician at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME, and an associate professor with Tufts University. She serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Maine Medical Center.

Peggy Cyr

Peggy Cyr, MD, is a Family Medicine physician at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME, and a clinical professor with Tufts University.

Julie Schirmer

Julie Schirmer, LCSW, is a clinical social worker and behavioral health and educational consultant for the Preventive Medicine Enhancement Program for Maine at the Maine Medical Center.