A medical student's perspective of participation in an interprofessional education placement: An autoethnography

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) has emerged as a critical pedagogy for promoting interprofessional collaboration (IPC) within healthcare. However, the literature includes few reports of students' perspectives on IPE experiences. Understanding students' experiences is critical, as they are the crux of IPE's culture change agenda. This paper presents an autoethnographic account of my experiences as a medical student participating in an IPE placement within a Canadian academic hospital. During the five-week placement, I collected data using participant observation and reflective journaling on all placement experiences. I expanded my notes using the emotional recall technique and conducted thematic analysis. Using a series of narrative vignettes, this paper explores the relationships between my personal experience and the cultural and educational issues underpinning IPE. The first vignette explores the relationship between students' patient access and our status in tutorial discussion. The second vignette considers the impact of shadowing on my appreciation of another professional's practice. The last vignette portrays my experience learning about the complex politics that shape IPC. The conclusion suggests that the IPE placements incorporate reflexive activities (i.e., journaling and interviewing) to enhance the students' appreciation and understanding of roles, responsibilities and professional perspectives, and to promote critical thinking and professional growth.

Keywords:

• Interprofessional education
• student perspective
• autoethnography

Acknowledgements

Jennifer Gallé's summer student research position was funded by the BMO Financial Group Professorship in Health Professions Education Research and the University of Toronto's Comprehensive Research for Medical Students (CREMS) Program. The Partnered Learning Project (PLP), within which this student placement was housed, is supported by the Interprofessional Care/Education Fund, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Ontario, Canada. Lorelei Lingard is supported in part by the BMO Financial Group Professorship in Health Professions Education Research. We are grateful for the participation of the clinical unit on which the student placement took place, and for the collegial support of the PLP research team.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Note

1. At the time of the study, I had only completed the first of a four year medical program. In participating in this project, I however, had to act as a 3rd year medical clerk. Although this meant that my role was slightly fabricated, the benefit of having me participate as a member of the IPE team, versus being simply an observer outweighed the disadvantages. As others attest, AEG that is constructed by those who have direct access to a culture as an insider are able to produce much more authentic accounts of the culture than an autoethnographer considered to be an outsider (Lejeune, 1989).