Interprofessional Education: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?

Christopher Medlin, PharmD

It’s probably safe to say that most pharmacy students in modern times know what it’s like to attend an interprofessional training session as part of their school or college curriculum. You meet in a classroom with social work, nursing, and medical students (and sometimes others), discuss a patient case or clinical scenario, develop a plan together, and frankly, you learn how much you don’t know about the other healthcare professions. To up and coming pharmacists, interprofessional education may seem like a given part of any curriculum of a school or college of pharmacy, but it’s important to recognize the evolving role of multidisciplinary training in a rapidly evolving profession such as pharmacy.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is “when students from 2 or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaborations and improve health outcomes.”¹ The need for interprofessional and interdisciplinary learning in the health professions began decades ago and continues to shape the landscape of pharmacy education. There has been a historical lack of understanding between different health professions, which has led to misconceptions about professional responsibilities, misunderstandings about healthcare knowledge, and malfunctioning of the healthcare team.² There have been many studies, task forces, and committees dedicated to IPE over a couple of decades, but the general consensus is that a well-functioning, cooperative healthcare team leads to better patients outcomes³, which should be a universal desire of all health professions. Additionally, with new accreditation standards demanding that performance on an interprofessional healthcare team be taught⁴, many schools and colleges of pharmacy have re-evaluated and modified curricula to reflect current standards.  That being said, there will likely be a staunch increase in IPE education and training sessions in pharmacy schools across the country.

While there are multiple ways to conduct an IPE training, what seems to be agreed upon is that IPE competencies must be built upon over time and integrated throughout health professions curricula.⁵ IPE courses tend to consist of multiple learning modalities combined, including lectures, role-plays, case studies, and discussions.⁶ Assessment of learning outcomes and objectives is a major priority for advocates of IPE training and may be done in several ways, including the validated 19-item Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) scale, and the British 12-item Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS).⁷

The presence of primary literature surrounding the effectiveness of IPE is not expansive, but there are many pilot IPE programs that have been shown to demonstrate changes in student and patient attitudes about the differing health professions and function of the healthcare team. These pilot programs range from pediatric prescribing⁸ to diabetes management⁹, each of which demonstrated improved student knowledge and understanding about the specific topic, as well as development of interprofessional teamwork and communication strategies.^8.9 An additional study utilized reflective prompts, discussion seminars, and presentations to increase student understanding on a vulnerable population’s healthcare needs. This study gathered quantitative and qualitative student participant input that was positive and indicated an increased understanding of interprofessional team functioning in order to address health disparities within their community.¹⁰

          Regardless of study findings and the differing techniques for effectively teaching in IPE, it is clear that a paradigm shift in pharmacy education has started and continues to make waves in schools and colleges of pharmacy across the United States. In fact, a 2011 survey of all schools and colleges of pharmacy indicated that 78% include written interprofessional curricular goals and 70% use subjective IPE outcomes in Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) assessments.¹¹ Similar trends can be seen in nursing and medical schools, a vast majority of which conduct IPE activities and teach IPE competencies.¹² Staying up to date with current educational practices and following evidence-based techniques for educating students on interprofessional practice should be a focus of curricula across the country as we shift toward outcome-centered care and expansion of services provided by pharmacists. After all, we should be focused on providing better outcomes for our patients, and it seems as though IPE might be a promising step towards accomplishing that goal.

References:

1. World Health Organization. Learning together to work together for health. Report of a WHO study group on multiprofessional education of health personnel: the team approach. World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser. 1988;769:1–72.

2. Poirer S, Lipetz M. Pharmacy in interprofessional education: a course on images of the health professions in the media. Am J Pharm Educ. 1987 Summer;51(2):133-7.

3. Buring SM, Bhushan A, Broeseker A, et al. Interprofessional Education: Definitions, Student Competencies, and Guidelines for Implementation. Am J Pharm Educ. 2009;73(4):59.

4. Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. (2016). Accreditation Standards and Key Elements for the Professional Program in Pharmacy Leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy Degree. Retrieved from https://www.acpe-accredit.org/deans/StandardsRevision.asp

5. Poirier TI, Wilhelm M. Interprofessional Education: Fad or Imperative. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 2013;77(4):68. doi:10.5688/ajpe77468.

6.  Meyer SM. The Imperative for Interprofessional Education. Am J Pharm Educ. 2009;73(4):58.

7.  Lie DA, Fung CC, Trial J, Loheny K. A comparison of two scales for assessing health professional students' attitude toward interprofessional learning. Med Educ Online. 2013 Jan;18(1):21885. doi: 10.3402/meo.v18i0.21885.

8.  Taylor D, Yuen S, Hunt L, Emond A. An Interprofessional Pediatric Prescribing Workshop. Am J Pharm Educ. 2012;76(6):111. doi:10.5688/ajpe766111.

9.  Pittenger AL, Westberg S, Rowan M, Schweiss S. An Interprofessional Diabetes Experience to Improve Pharmacy and Nursing Students’ Competency in Collaborative Practice. Am J Pharm Educ. 2013;77(9):197. doi:10.5688/ajpe779197.

10. Hasnain M, Koronkowski MJ, Kondratowicz DM, Goliak KL. Training Future Health Providers to Care for the Underserved: A Pilot Interprofessional Experience. Educ Health. 2012;25:204-7.

11. Jones KM, Blumenthal DK, Burke JM, et al. Interprofessional Education in Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences at US Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy. Am J Pharm Educ. 2012;76(5):80. doi:10.5688/ajpe76580.

12.  West C, Graham L, Palmer RT, et al. Implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) in 16 U.S. medical schools: Common practices, barriers and facilitators. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice. 2016;4:41-49. doi:10.1016/j.xjep.2016.05.002.