Professionals from healthcare and education frequently work together to serve clients in public schools. We devised an interprofessional activity including students in occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, social work, and education in which students designed an interprofessional intervention program for a school child with complex needs. Allied health students who expressed interest in pediatric practice were recruited to participate. Students filled out the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS), a Likert-scale measure of perceptions about related disciplines, before and after the experience. Quantitative analysis of responses on the IEPS showed a significant improvement in interdisciplinary perceptions after the experience as evidenced by higher IEPS scores. Qualitative analysis using a narrative thematic description of reflections on the experience confirmed this finding. These findings suggest a brief, intensive preservice interprofessional experience can have a positive effect on students' interprofessional attitudes, and points toward aspects of these experiences, including student-led discussions and small group conversations, that students find especially appealing.
Paul, R., Simmons, E., Bowers, D., Carl-Stannard, P., Marotto, J., Rainville, K., Sauvigne-Kirsch, J., & Massucci, E. (2020). A case-based, brief, intensive interprofessional education experience for school practitioners. Journal of Allied Health, 49(1), e43–e50.