Impact of IPE Activities and Durations on Occupational and Physical Therapy Student Interprofessional Socialization and Valuation

Interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice (IPCP) can reduce medical error and improve healthcare quality and the patient experience. In addition, most academic accrediting bodies now require the integration of IPE within healthcare professions’ educational curricula to earn accreditation. This study's aim is to determine how much IPE is required and which types of instructional activities foster student progress, toward the IPEC Core Competencies.

First-year OT (n=33) and PT students (n=22) together participated in two IPE activities one week apart. The first activity (“Activity #1”), one-hour in duration, used video observation of intraprofessional and interprofessional collaborative practice sessions, along with small and large group discussions led by OT and PT faculty to facilitate IPE. The second activity (“Activity #2”), three hours in duration, utilized a 90-minute lecture on wheelchair seating and mobility by an assistive technology professional (ATP) and 90-minutes of case-based applications by students, facilitated by OT and PT faculty and the ATP. Educational outcomes for each activity were measured using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale-9 (ISVS-9) as a pre- and post-test.

Twenty-four OT and nine PT students had complete data sets. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA showed the significant effect of the interventions on the students’ interprofessional socialization and perception of IPCP, F(3, 96)=3.44, p < 0.0001. A post hoc Tukey HSD test indicated statistically significant differences in the mean ISVS-9 score immediately after the Activity #1 (M=57.5, SE=0.833) compared with the pre-Activity #1 scores (M=52.2, SE=1.17, p < 0.01), between the post-Activity #1 and pre-Activity #2 (M=54.4, SE=0.900, p < 0.01) scores, and between pre-Activity #2 and post-Activity #2 (M=57.7, SE=0.910, p < 0.01) scores. Post hoc Tukey HSD tests indicated a statistically significant difference in the mean ISVS-9 scores between pre-Activity #1 and pre-Activity #2 scores (p < 0.05) but no significant difference between post-Activity #1 and post-Activity #2 scores.

Each IPE activity and duration significantly improved OT and PT students’ self-reported interprofessional socialization and perception of interprofessional collaborative practice, though this impact may be short-lived and incremental.

Based on the results of this study, repeated investment of time using a variety of IPE activities, promote students’ progression toward IPEC Core Competency attainment.