Assessing 3rd year medical students’ interprofessional collaborative practice behaviors during a standardized patient encounter: A multi-institutional, cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: To understand how third-year medical student interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) is affected by self-efficacy and interprofessional experiences (extracurricular experiences and formal curricula).

Methods: The authors measured learner IPCP using an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) with a standardized nurse (SN) and standardized patient (SP) during a statewide clinical performance examination. At four California medical schools from April to August 2012, SPs and SNs rated learner IPCP (10 items, range 0–100) and patient-centered communication (10 items, range 0–100). Post-OSCE, students reported their interprofessional self-efficacy (16 items, 2 factors, range 1–10) and prior extracurricular interprofessional experiences (3 items). School representatives shared their interprofessional curricula during guided interviews.

Results: Four hundred sixty-four of 530 eligible medical students (88%) participated. Mean IPCP performance was 79.6 ± 14.1 and mean self-efficacy scores were 7.9 (interprofessional teamwork) and 7.1 (interprofessional feedback and evaluation). Seventy percent of students reported prior extracurricular interprofessional experiences; all schools offered formal interprofessional curricula. IPCP was associated with self-efficacy for interprofessional teamwork (β = 1.6, 95% CI [0.1, 3.1], p = 0.04) and patient-centered communication (β = 12.5, 95% CI [2.7, 22.3], p = 0.01).

Conclusions: Medical student IPCP performance was associated with self-efficacy for interprofessional teamwork and patient-centered communication. Increasing interprofessional opportunities that influence medical students’ self-efficacy may increase engagement in IPCP.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge Ann Homan, Bernie Miller, Sandrijn van Schaik and the standardized patient trainers at the participating schools, as well as the standardized patient actors and participating students.

Declaration of interest: The authors have no declarations of interest to report.