Abstract
Purpose: Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Health Policy are important components in health professional curricula. Students from business, communication sciences and disorders, dietetics, occupational therapy, nursing, and social work participated in an innovative IPE event working in an IPE group to apply discipline specific knowledge and propose solutions to the Medicaid Expansion gap in Virginia. Students presented their final proposals to legislators while advocating for issues important to their discipline.
Methodology/Results: This study used the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) to examine student Teamwork and Collaboration, Professional Identity, and Roles and Responsibilities following participation in a Health Policy Summit. The results revealed a difference at baseline between health professions students and business students (N= 260) in their perception of teamwork and collaboration between groups. The themes of the question items found to be significant within the scale pre- and posttest were student perception of learning with other health-care/professional students, shared learning to help students understand their limitations, and welcoming opportunities to work with IPE students.
Conclusion: This data indicates that there remains an opportunity to promote student perceptions of their abilities to participate in teamwork, collaborate significantly, and to understand the scope of their discipline specific knowledge and contributions to a team.
Recommended Citation
Tacy, Joseph W. PhD, RN; Trull, Laura H. PhD, MSW, LSW; and Robinson, Jamie MSN, RN, CNL
(2020)
"Interprofessional Learning Readiness: Health Policy Summit,"
Virginia Journal of Public Health: Vol. 4:
Iss.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/vjph/vol4/iss1/4