http://informahealthcare.com/jic ISSN: 1356-1820 (print), 1469-9567 (electronic) J Interprof Care, 2014; 28(6): 576–578 ! 2014 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/13561820.2014.917403
SHORT REPORT
Interprofessional socialization as a way to introduce collaborative competencies to first-year health science students Margarita V. DiVall, Leslie Kolbig, Mary Carney, Jennifer Kirwin, Christine Letzeiser and Shan Mohammed Bouve´ College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, USA
Abstract
Keywords
Interprofessional education (IPE) is the cornerstone of preparing future health care providers but remains to be a challenge for many health science programs. We aimed to develop and evaluate an interprofessional conference for first-year health science students with goals to provide students with interprofessional socialization opportunity and introduce IPE principles. A half-day conference was based upon core competencies for health professionals and involved 277 first-year health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology and audiology students. Alcohol and substance misuse was chosen as a topic for its relevance to college students and health professionals. Results from program evaluation revealed that the conference was successful in exposing students to core interprofessional competencies and provided useful information about alcohol and substance misuse. This study advocates for early inclusion of IPE in the health professions curricula in the form of interprofessional socialization.
Attitudes, health science students, interprofessional conference, professional socialization
Introduction In 2011, the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) issued a statement that outlined core competencies and learning objectives for interprofessional collaborative practice and education (IPEC Expert Panel, 2011). Currently, there are no specific guidelines detailing when it is best to introduce interprofessional education (IPE) to health professions students or what model is the most effective. A critical element of professional education is socialization of health care students into the profession. Waugman (1994) suggested that professional socialization, which refers to a process of learning what defines a professional member, can actually hinder interprofessional collaboration. Waugman (1994) proposed that socialization principles should be applied in interprofessional context and included as part of student education and training. The process of interprofessional socialization can promote collaboration among students across disciplines and will ultimately help to facilitate group dynamics for working together in either practice or research arenas. Arndt et al. (2009) identified the lack of research on how health professionals are socialized to work interprofessionally. The objective of our study was to develop an interprofessional conference for first-year health science students and evaluate whether it was an effective model of introducing IPE principles.
Background The Bouve´ College of Health Sciences (BCHS) at Northeastern University is comprised of three schools of health professions,
Correspondence: Margarita V. DiVall, PharmD, Bouve´ College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, 140 The Fenway, R218TF, Boston 02115, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
History Received 28 June 2013 Revised 27 February 2014 Accepted 19 April 2014 Published online 12 May 2014
nursing and pharmacy. The majority of the undergraduate students in the college select one of the following majors upon entry: pharmacy, nursing, physical therapy, health sciences, or speech language pathology and audiology. In the summer of 2012, an interprofessional task force of faculty, students, and staff from the Office of Student Services initiated discussions about introducing IPE to the first-year cohort as part of the Introduction to college course. Interprofessional socialization approach was chosen to overcome difficulties associated with course logistics and bringing students from different disciplines together in the classroom. A series of planning meetings led to the development of a half-day interprofessional conference with the major goal of highlighting the importance of health professionals working effectively across disciplines to improve health outcomes of individuals and communities. Activities were developed to introduce students to the following two IPEC competencies: work with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values; and use the knowledge of one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the healthcare needs of the patients and populations served (IPEC Expert Panel, 2011). A topic of alcohol and substance misuse was chosen due to its relevance to all health care professionals and college students. In addition to IPEC competencies, we aimed for students to identify the role of health care professionals in substance misuse and the consequences of substance misuse by health care professionals. The interprofessional conference took place at the end of September on a Saturday morning. Students’ participation in the conference was required and expected as part of the Introduction to College course that every student takes during the first semester. The day began with a welcome message regarding the importance of interprofessional education and practice. A formal
DOI: 10.3109/13561820.2014.917403
Collaborative competencies of first-year health science students
presentation regarding college students’ alcohol and drug misuse followed. A panel of speakers that included one representative from each major within BCHS, whose research and/or practice interests aligned with the topic of alcohol and substance misuse, discussed their own professional roles in working with this area of practice and the nature of interprofessional collaborations in their practice and research. A guest speaker, a pharmacist and a recovering drug addict, addressed the student audience with a recount of his own personal struggles with substance abuse. During the second half of the conference, students transitioned into smaller break-out rooms, where they were seated at round tables in small (58 students), pre-assigned interprofessional groups. This particular part of the conference was focused on the important component of interprofessional education definition – students learning about, with, and from each other (WHO, 2010). The groups discussed two cases with a facilitator, who was a faculty, an upper-class student, or student advisor. Students were once again prompted to discuss their actions and what may influence them. At the end of the conference, students re-assembled in the large auditorium, where there was an opportunity for wrap-up and reflection.
Methods The validated Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) was used to assess student attitudes before and after the conference (Parsell & Bligh, 1999). Students were asked to provide a unique identifier to enable pared comparison using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test for related samples. Web-based evaluations were administered one week after the conference to solicit evaluative feedback from students.
Results Two hundred and seventy-eight students (84%) attended the Interprofessional Conference. Two hundred and ninety-three students (89%) completed RIPLS before the conference and 203 students (73.0% of conference attendees; 61.5% of all first-year students) completed it after the conference. Pre and post data for 161 students were matched based on a unique student identifier. Data analysis demonstrated that students had positive attitudes towards IPE even before the conference. Participation in the conference resulted in further improvement on all RIPLS items and statistically significant improvement (p50.05) on 5 items in the subscale of ‘‘Teamwork & Collaboration’’, 2 items in the sub-scale of ‘‘Positive Professional Identity’’ and 2 items in the subscale of ‘‘Roles and Responsibilities’’ for the cohort with matched data.
577
Ninety-three students completed post conference evaluation (32% of conference attendees). A majority of the students agreed that interprofessionalism and alcohol and substance misuse were important conference topics for first year students (80.5% and 78.2%, respectfully). Student responses to questions which focused on achieving objectives of the conference are presented in Table I. In the open-ended question responses, students acknowledged the benefit of interprofessional interaction, both in terms of socialization with other peers and initiating the development of effective interprofessional collaboration. Students were ‘‘riveted’’ by the guest speaker’s depiction of his addiction and its connection to his profession. Many students expressed a desire to have had more interaction with the panel of interprofessional speakers, so as to understand better their respective points of view on the addiction. Generally, students described the cases discussed in small groups as realistic, challenging, and informative; they suggested adding to this part of the program in the future. They also noted the difficulty of relating to dealing with issues that arise during experiential training; many felt that they were too early in their professional development to address these cases effectively.
Discussion This paper describes a novel approach to interprofessional socialization while also introducing IPE competencies to a group of undergraduate students immediately upon college entry. Overall, results from post-conference evaluation surveys indicated achievement of our objectives. Student responses also indicated greater willingness to participate in interprofessional sections of the Introduction to College course than respondents in previous years. However, the logistics of organizing the first-year interprofessional conference were challenging. Conference development was very resource intensive requiring extensive faculty and staff time to organize and then deliver the Saturday event, which demonstrates significant commitment of the faculty, staff and student to IPE, but also is an important factor in discussions about making this an annual event. Our approach is comparable to another project, described in a 2012 paper (Van Winkle, Fjortoft, & Hojat, 2012). In our project, students exhibited readiness for IPE learning at baseline. Readiness was further increased as a result of our intervention. Williams et al. (2012) conducted a cross-sectional study of Australian undergraduate students perceptions regarding interprofessional learning and collaboration using the RIPLS. Their study revealed generally positive attitudes towards shared learning
Table I. Student responses to the post-conference evaluation. Survey statements I understand the importance of communicating in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to the maintenance of health and the treatment of disease. I understand the importance of being able to work with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values. I understand the importance of relationship-building values and the principles of team dynamics to plan and deliver patient or population-centered care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable. I understand the importance of knowing one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the healthcare needs of patients and populations served. I am more aware of the emotional, interpersonal and professional consequences of substance abuse and its impact on the lives of individuals, families and communities I understand health professionals’ responsibility to address substance abuse and addiction I am more aware that health professionals can suffer from alcohol misuse and drug addiction
SA (%)
A (%)
N (%)
D (%)
SD (%)
38.5
52.7
6.6
2.2
0.0
44.0
48.4
6.6
1.1
0.0
41.8
45.1
9.9
3.3
0.0
41.8
44.0
12.1
2.0
0.0
63.3
33.3
2.2
1.1
0.0
53.8 53.8
40.7 39.6
4.4 5.5
1.1 1.1
0.0 0.0
578
M. V. DiVall et al.
and the value of teamwork with RIPLS scores across all 19 items similar to our findings (Williams et al., 2012). It is important to note that much of the research that has been done surrounding IPE has evaluated first year graduate students, whose typical characteristics include older age and greater college and interprofessional experience that the first-year students in our project. BCHS students at Northeastern University are admitted directly after high school graduation and most do not have previous academic experience or bachelor’s degrees with an average age of 18 years old. Limitations of our project included the relatively low response rate from the students to post-conference evaluation survey. It is possible that post-conference survey was completed by those who felt most impacted by the event. The evaluation of the event was attitudinal in nature as we aimed to explore how early in the curriculum students were open to IPE and whether this interprofessional conference was able to positively influence their attitudes. Additionally, this was meant to mimic a professional conference for which competency and outcome assessments are not typically provided.
Declaration of interest The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors are responsible for the writing and content of this paper.
J Interprof Care, 2014; 28(6): 576–578
References Arndt, J., King, S., Suter, E., Mazonde, J., Taylor, E., & Arthur, N. (2009). Socialization in health education: Encouraging an integrated interprofessional socialization process. Journal of Allied Health, 38, 18–23. Interprofessional Practice Education Collaborative Expert Panel. (2011). Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/ ipecreport.pdf. Parsell, G., & Bligh, J. (1999). The development of a questionnaire to assess the readiness for health care studentsfor interprofessional learning (RIPLS). Medical Education, 33, 95–100. Van Winkle, L.J., Fjortoft, N., & Hojat, M. (2012). Impact of a workshop about aging on the empathy scores of pharmacy and medical students. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 76, 1–5. Waugaman, W.R. (1994). Professionalisation and socialisation in interprofessional collaboration. In R.M. Casto & M.C. Julia (Eds.), Inter-professional care and collaborative practice: Commission on inter-professional education and practice (pp. 23–31). Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole. Williams, B., McCook, F., Brown, T., Palmero, C., McKenna, L., Boyle, M., Scholes, R., et al. (2012). Are undergraduate health care students ‘ready’ for interprofessional learning? A cross-sectional attitudinal study. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 10, 1–11. World Health Organization (WHO). (2010). Framework for action on interprofessional education & collaborative practice. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/ 2010/WHO_HRH_HPN_10.3_eng.pdf.
Copyright of Journal of Interprofessional Care is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
SHORT REPORT
Interprofessional socialization as a way to introduce collaborative competencies to first-year health science students Margarita V. DiVall, Leslie Kolbig, Mary Carney, Jennifer Kirwin, Christine Letzeiser and Shan Mohammed Bouve´ College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, USA
Abstract
Keywords
Interprofessional education (IPE) is the cornerstone of preparing future health care providers but remains to be a challenge for many health science programs. We aimed to develop and evaluate an interprofessional conference for first-year health science students with goals to provide students with interprofessional socialization opportunity and introduce IPE principles. A half-day conference was based upon core competencies for health professionals and involved 277 first-year health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology and audiology students. Alcohol and substance misuse was chosen as a topic for its relevance to college students and health professionals. Results from program evaluation revealed that the conference was successful in exposing students to core interprofessional competencies and provided useful information about alcohol and substance misuse. This study advocates for early inclusion of IPE in the health professions curricula in the form of interprofessional socialization.
Attitudes, health science students, interprofessional conference, professional socialization
Introduction In 2011, the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) issued a statement that outlined core competencies and learning objectives for interprofessional collaborative practice and education (IPEC Expert Panel, 2011). Currently, there are no specific guidelines detailing when it is best to introduce interprofessional education (IPE) to health professions students or what model is the most effective. A critical element of professional education is socialization of health care students into the profession. Waugman (1994) suggested that professional socialization, which refers to a process of learning what defines a professional member, can actually hinder interprofessional collaboration. Waugman (1994) proposed that socialization principles should be applied in interprofessional context and included as part of student education and training. The process of interprofessional socialization can promote collaboration among students across disciplines and will ultimately help to facilitate group dynamics for working together in either practice or research arenas. Arndt et al. (2009) identified the lack of research on how health professionals are socialized to work interprofessionally. The objective of our study was to develop an interprofessional conference for first-year health science students and evaluate whether it was an effective model of introducing IPE principles.
Background The Bouve´ College of Health Sciences (BCHS) at Northeastern University is comprised of three schools of health professions,
Correspondence: Margarita V. DiVall, PharmD, Bouve´ College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, 140 The Fenway, R218TF, Boston 02115, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
History Received 28 June 2013 Revised 27 February 2014 Accepted 19 April 2014 Published online 12 May 2014
nursing and pharmacy. The majority of the undergraduate students in the college select one of the following majors upon entry: pharmacy, nursing, physical therapy, health sciences, or speech language pathology and audiology. In the summer of 2012, an interprofessional task force of faculty, students, and staff from the Office of Student Services initiated discussions about introducing IPE to the first-year cohort as part of the Introduction to college course. Interprofessional socialization approach was chosen to overcome difficulties associated with course logistics and bringing students from different disciplines together in the classroom. A series of planning meetings led to the development of a half-day interprofessional conference with the major goal of highlighting the importance of health professionals working effectively across disciplines to improve health outcomes of individuals and communities. Activities were developed to introduce students to the following two IPEC competencies: work with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values; and use the knowledge of one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the healthcare needs of the patients and populations served (IPEC Expert Panel, 2011). A topic of alcohol and substance misuse was chosen due to its relevance to all health care professionals and college students. In addition to IPEC competencies, we aimed for students to identify the role of health care professionals in substance misuse and the consequences of substance misuse by health care professionals. The interprofessional conference took place at the end of September on a Saturday morning. Students’ participation in the conference was required and expected as part of the Introduction to College course that every student takes during the first semester. The day began with a welcome message regarding the importance of interprofessional education and practice. A formal
DOI: 10.3109/13561820.2014.917403
Collaborative competencies of first-year health science students
presentation regarding college students’ alcohol and drug misuse followed. A panel of speakers that included one representative from each major within BCHS, whose research and/or practice interests aligned with the topic of alcohol and substance misuse, discussed their own professional roles in working with this area of practice and the nature of interprofessional collaborations in their practice and research. A guest speaker, a pharmacist and a recovering drug addict, addressed the student audience with a recount of his own personal struggles with substance abuse. During the second half of the conference, students transitioned into smaller break-out rooms, where they were seated at round tables in small (58 students), pre-assigned interprofessional groups. This particular part of the conference was focused on the important component of interprofessional education definition – students learning about, with, and from each other (WHO, 2010). The groups discussed two cases with a facilitator, who was a faculty, an upper-class student, or student advisor. Students were once again prompted to discuss their actions and what may influence them. At the end of the conference, students re-assembled in the large auditorium, where there was an opportunity for wrap-up and reflection.
Methods The validated Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) was used to assess student attitudes before and after the conference (Parsell & Bligh, 1999). Students were asked to provide a unique identifier to enable pared comparison using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test for related samples. Web-based evaluations were administered one week after the conference to solicit evaluative feedback from students.
Results Two hundred and seventy-eight students (84%) attended the Interprofessional Conference. Two hundred and ninety-three students (89%) completed RIPLS before the conference and 203 students (73.0% of conference attendees; 61.5% of all first-year students) completed it after the conference. Pre and post data for 161 students were matched based on a unique student identifier. Data analysis demonstrated that students had positive attitudes towards IPE even before the conference. Participation in the conference resulted in further improvement on all RIPLS items and statistically significant improvement (p50.05) on 5 items in the subscale of ‘‘Teamwork & Collaboration’’, 2 items in the sub-scale of ‘‘Positive Professional Identity’’ and 2 items in the subscale of ‘‘Roles and Responsibilities’’ for the cohort with matched data.
577
Ninety-three students completed post conference evaluation (32% of conference attendees). A majority of the students agreed that interprofessionalism and alcohol and substance misuse were important conference topics for first year students (80.5% and 78.2%, respectfully). Student responses to questions which focused on achieving objectives of the conference are presented in Table I. In the open-ended question responses, students acknowledged the benefit of interprofessional interaction, both in terms of socialization with other peers and initiating the development of effective interprofessional collaboration. Students were ‘‘riveted’’ by the guest speaker’s depiction of his addiction and its connection to his profession. Many students expressed a desire to have had more interaction with the panel of interprofessional speakers, so as to understand better their respective points of view on the addiction. Generally, students described the cases discussed in small groups as realistic, challenging, and informative; they suggested adding to this part of the program in the future. They also noted the difficulty of relating to dealing with issues that arise during experiential training; many felt that they were too early in their professional development to address these cases effectively.
Discussion This paper describes a novel approach to interprofessional socialization while also introducing IPE competencies to a group of undergraduate students immediately upon college entry. Overall, results from post-conference evaluation surveys indicated achievement of our objectives. Student responses also indicated greater willingness to participate in interprofessional sections of the Introduction to College course than respondents in previous years. However, the logistics of organizing the first-year interprofessional conference were challenging. Conference development was very resource intensive requiring extensive faculty and staff time to organize and then deliver the Saturday event, which demonstrates significant commitment of the faculty, staff and student to IPE, but also is an important factor in discussions about making this an annual event. Our approach is comparable to another project, described in a 2012 paper (Van Winkle, Fjortoft, & Hojat, 2012). In our project, students exhibited readiness for IPE learning at baseline. Readiness was further increased as a result of our intervention. Williams et al. (2012) conducted a cross-sectional study of Australian undergraduate students perceptions regarding interprofessional learning and collaboration using the RIPLS. Their study revealed generally positive attitudes towards shared learning
Table I. Student responses to the post-conference evaluation. Survey statements I understand the importance of communicating in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to the maintenance of health and the treatment of disease. I understand the importance of being able to work with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values. I understand the importance of relationship-building values and the principles of team dynamics to plan and deliver patient or population-centered care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable. I understand the importance of knowing one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the healthcare needs of patients and populations served. I am more aware of the emotional, interpersonal and professional consequences of substance abuse and its impact on the lives of individuals, families and communities I understand health professionals’ responsibility to address substance abuse and addiction I am more aware that health professionals can suffer from alcohol misuse and drug addiction
SA (%)
A (%)
N (%)
D (%)
SD (%)
38.5
52.7
6.6
2.2
0.0
44.0
48.4
6.6
1.1
0.0
41.8
45.1
9.9
3.3
0.0
41.8
44.0
12.1
2.0
0.0
63.3
33.3
2.2
1.1
0.0
53.8 53.8
40.7 39.6
4.4 5.5
1.1 1.1
0.0 0.0
578
M. V. DiVall et al.
and the value of teamwork with RIPLS scores across all 19 items similar to our findings (Williams et al., 2012). It is important to note that much of the research that has been done surrounding IPE has evaluated first year graduate students, whose typical characteristics include older age and greater college and interprofessional experience that the first-year students in our project. BCHS students at Northeastern University are admitted directly after high school graduation and most do not have previous academic experience or bachelor’s degrees with an average age of 18 years old. Limitations of our project included the relatively low response rate from the students to post-conference evaluation survey. It is possible that post-conference survey was completed by those who felt most impacted by the event. The evaluation of the event was attitudinal in nature as we aimed to explore how early in the curriculum students were open to IPE and whether this interprofessional conference was able to positively influence their attitudes. Additionally, this was meant to mimic a professional conference for which competency and outcome assessments are not typically provided.
Declaration of interest The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors are responsible for the writing and content of this paper.
J Interprof Care, 2014; 28(6): 576–578
References Arndt, J., King, S., Suter, E., Mazonde, J., Taylor, E., & Arthur, N. (2009). Socialization in health education: Encouraging an integrated interprofessional socialization process. Journal of Allied Health, 38, 18–23. Interprofessional Practice Education Collaborative Expert Panel. (2011). Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/ ipecreport.pdf. Parsell, G., & Bligh, J. (1999). The development of a questionnaire to assess the readiness for health care studentsfor interprofessional learning (RIPLS). Medical Education, 33, 95–100. Van Winkle, L.J., Fjortoft, N., & Hojat, M. (2012). Impact of a workshop about aging on the empathy scores of pharmacy and medical students. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 76, 1–5. Waugaman, W.R. (1994). Professionalisation and socialisation in interprofessional collaboration. In R.M. Casto & M.C. Julia (Eds.), Inter-professional care and collaborative practice: Commission on inter-professional education and practice (pp. 23–31). Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole. Williams, B., McCook, F., Brown, T., Palmero, C., McKenna, L., Boyle, M., Scholes, R., et al. (2012). Are undergraduate health care students ‘ready’ for interprofessional learning? A cross-sectional attitudinal study. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 10, 1–11. World Health Organization (WHO). (2010). Framework for action on interprofessional education & collaborative practice. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/ 2010/WHO_HRH_HPN_10.3_eng.pdf.
Copyright of Journal of Interprofessional Care is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
