(4) A Pre-Post Evaluation of an Interprofessional Education (IPE) Skill Sharing Workshop

Objective : While IPE is a required component of many healthcare professional programs, there is no consensus on what types of activities work best to achieve core competencies. Using select questions from the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Scale Revised (ICCAS-R), this study aimed to determine whether a Skill Share Workshop can meet Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies.

Methods: The hour-long Skill Share Workshops included pharmacy (Pharm), dental hygiene (DH), radiology technology (RADT), and medical laboratory science (MLS) students separated into small interdisciplinary groups of 2-3 during each session. Skills determined by faculty of programs involved were as follows: prescription sig codes (Pharm), extra oral examination (DH), radiographic anatomy identification (RADT), blood typing (MLS). Faculty prepared students to teach their skill to other disciplines. Students who participated in the event completed a retrospective pre/post survey at the end of the workshop through SurveyMonkey, which contained 7 ICCAS-R questions. Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests were employed to compare the difference in median scores for the 7 ICCAS-R pre/post questions.

Results: 66 students participated in the workshop, and 64 completed the survey for a response rate of 97%. Median scores for all 7 ICCAS-R questions increased from pre to post by 1 to 2 points on a 5-point Likert scale. When comparing pre/post questions, there was a significant difference noted in all 7 ICCAS-R questions (p <.01).

Conclusions: An IPE Skill Sharing Workshop between Pharm, DH, RADT, and MLS led to an increase in students’ self-reported competence regarding interprofessional collaboration.