A Multilevel Model for Evaluating Interprofessional Learning.

Medical schools should engage in best practices for evaluating preclinical interprofessional collaborative programs. This innovation models a multilevel program evaluation of Interprofessional Clinical Experience (ICE), a required course for all first-year medical students. Data from student course evaluations and preceptor surveys determined that the course was effective at teaching interprofessional practices. Competency assessments showed nearly all students achieved the expected level. On the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale, students increased their self-reported attitudes around interprofessional practices. Improvements to the ICE course will continue based on student and preceptor feedback from this multilevel program evaluation.

Medical student perceptions of an initial collaborative immersion experience.

Recent reviews of interprofessional education (IPE) highlight the need for innovative curricula focused on longitudinal clinical learning. We describe the development and early outcomes of the initial clinical experience (ICE), a longitudinal practice-based course for first-year medical students. While IPE courses focus on student-to-student interaction, ICE focuses on introducing students to interprofessional collaboration. Students attend 14 sessions at one of 18 different clinical sites. They work directly with different health professionals from among 17 possible professions, including nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and respiratory, occupational, and physical therapists. Between 2015 and 2016, 167 students completed the course, and 81 completed the end-of-course evaluation. Students agreed or strongly agreed that ICE meaningfully contributed to their understanding of healthcare teams and different professional roles (86%), improved their understanding of healthcare systems (84%), improved their ability to communicate with healthcare professionals (61%), and improved their ability to work on interprofessional teams (65%). Select themes from narrative comments suggest that clinical immersion improves understanding of professional roles, helps students understand their own future roles in healthcare teams, and increases awareness of and respect for other professionals, with the potential to change future practice. ICE may be a template for other schools wishing to expand their current educational offerings, by engaging learners in more authentic, longitudinal clinical experiences with practicing healthcare professionals.