Faculty Sponsor’s Department
Pharmacy Practice
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Emily Flores
Additional Sponsors
KariLynn Dowling-McClay
Type
Poster: Competitive
Project's Category
Rural Health
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Interprofessional teamwork is being adopted as the best way to care for patients, but it is also important to determine how future healthcare providers view this model of patient care. What are their attitudes and beliefs after having the opportunity to work in an interprofessional team? The primary objective of this study was to determine changes in health profession students’ attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration through participation in a Remote Area Medical (RAM) event in rural Appalachia. Researchers hypothesized that working in interprofessional teams positively impacts students’ attitudes toward interprofessional practice. To explore these variables, RedCap was utilized to collect demographic information, generate a pre/post survey matching code, and administer previously validated interprofessional education (IPE) questionnaires to RAM clinic student volunteers (representing five ETSU health sciences colleges and various undergraduate programs) before and after the event. Students were allowed to voluntarily complete the pre-survey online prior to participating in the event or at sign-in and the post-survey at sign-out or online after the event. The Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised Instrument, Version 2 (SPICE-R2), which is validated for use in pre- and post-surveys, utilized 5-point Likert-type questions (strongly disagree to strongly agree) to evaluate students’ perceptions of their role on the team and the team’s impact on healthcare and patient outcomes. The Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale-Revised (ICCAS-R), which is only validated for use in post-surveys, required students to simultaneously evaluate their ability to perform tangible interprofessional team skills before and after the event using 5-point Likert-type questions (poor to excellent). At the event, students were placed into interprofessional teams to provide care to patients. Faculty members from a variety of professions provided leadership to the teams and guidance as needed. The pre-survey had 107 responses and the post-survey had 108 responses. However, after matching the pre- and post-surveys with student-generated codes, there were 70 valid matched responses. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 25. There were no statistically significant changes in SPICE-R2 IPE constructs from the pre-survey to post-survey. However, high pre-survey scores indicated that this student cohort already had a high level of appreciation for interprofessional teams, with mean scores of 4.5 out of 5 for teamwork, 4 out of 5 for roles and responsibilities, and 4.36 out of 5 for healthcare outcomes. The mean overall composite score on the ICCAS-R increased from 3.65 out of 5 on the pre-event portion to 4.03 out of 5 on the post-event portion (p < 0.001) , indicating that students increased their self-evaluated ability to perform tangible skills used in the interprofessional team through participation in the RAM clinic. Findings of this research may allow educators in both classroom and healthcare settings to better understand how hands-on IPE experiences influence students’ interprofessional attitudes and beliefs.
Impact on Student Attitudes through Participation in Interprofessional Student Teams at a Remote Area Medical Event in Rural Appalachia
Interprofessional teamwork is being adopted as the best way to care for patients, but it is also important to determine how future healthcare providers view this model of patient care. What are their attitudes and beliefs after having the opportunity to work in an interprofessional team? The primary objective of this study was to determine changes in health profession students’ attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration through participation in a Remote Area Medical (RAM) event in rural Appalachia. Researchers hypothesized that working in interprofessional teams positively impacts students’ attitudes toward interprofessional practice. To explore these variables, RedCap was utilized to collect demographic information, generate a pre/post survey matching code, and administer previously validated interprofessional education (IPE) questionnaires to RAM clinic student volunteers (representing five ETSU health sciences colleges and various undergraduate programs) before and after the event. Students were allowed to voluntarily complete the pre-survey online prior to participating in the event or at sign-in and the post-survey at sign-out or online after the event. The Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised Instrument, Version 2 (SPICE-R2), which is validated for use in pre- and post-surveys, utilized 5-point Likert-type questions (strongly disagree to strongly agree) to evaluate students’ perceptions of their role on the team and the team’s impact on healthcare and patient outcomes. The Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale-Revised (ICCAS-R), which is only validated for use in post-surveys, required students to simultaneously evaluate their ability to perform tangible interprofessional team skills before and after the event using 5-point Likert-type questions (poor to excellent). At the event, students were placed into interprofessional teams to provide care to patients. Faculty members from a variety of professions provided leadership to the teams and guidance as needed. The pre-survey had 107 responses and the post-survey had 108 responses. However, after matching the pre- and post-surveys with student-generated codes, there were 70 valid matched responses. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 25. There were no statistically significant changes in SPICE-R2 IPE constructs from the pre-survey to post-survey. However, high pre-survey scores indicated that this student cohort already had a high level of appreciation for interprofessional teams, with mean scores of 4.5 out of 5 for teamwork, 4 out of 5 for roles and responsibilities, and 4.36 out of 5 for healthcare outcomes. The mean overall composite score on the ICCAS-R increased from 3.65 out of 5 on the pre-event portion to 4.03 out of 5 on the post-event portion (p < 0.001) , indicating that students increased their self-evaluated ability to perform tangible skills used in the interprofessional team through participation in the RAM clinic. Findings of this research may allow educators in both classroom and healthcare settings to better understand how hands-on IPE experiences influence students’ interprofessional attitudes and beliefs.