Evaluating IPE Activities in Achieving IPEC Competencies Using the Chiba Interprofessional Competency Scale (CICS29)

The Chiba Interprofessional Competency Scale (CICS29), was designed to address how the IPE continuum improves an individual’s competencies in interprofessional (IP) collaborative practice, and how an increase in an individual’s competencies contributes to their team’s performance. While the tool assesses student behaviors in the clinic, the authors argue that the scale can be used to evaluate the degree of achievement of the learning objectives in fundamental education. Compared with other IP collaboration scales, the CICS29 was found to have subsumed the key concepts that should be configured as IP collaboration competencies, measuring these competencies of IP practice and to a broader extent, IP education.

There are four core competencies for IP collaborative practice that correspond with the CICS29 self-assessment questions: value and ethics, roles and responsibilities, IP communication and team and teamwork.

The purpose of this quantitative cohort study is to assess the effectiveness of two IP education events at Regis University, and their ability to attain IPEC Core Competencies from the students’ perspectives through the Chiba Interprofessional Competency Scale (CICS29).

Participants included 2nd year students in programs of nurse practitioner, pharmacy, physical therapy, counseling, and family therapy, in small groups discussing cases focusing on clinicians’ implicit and explicit bias. These students rated each statement using a 7-item Likert scale for the tool’s six broad categories both before and after this IPE experience.
The results reveal a robust response rate of 68.5% demonstrating a small improvement to two sections of the CICS29, correlating to IPEC areas CC3 and TT4.

To conclude, small group, in person IP case based discussions, can be valuable to improve healthcare students’ abilities, to enhance in skills necessary for team-based care. Understanding how educational activities contribute to IPEC competency obtainment by healthcare students, may assist in improving the quality and capture of activities for accreditation. Using a measurement tool focused on the IPEC competencies in a systematic way for IP events may assist universities and accreditation bodies, in understanding the progression and competency obtainment students acquire throughout the academic continuum.