Improving Interprofessional Practice and Cultural Competence with Interprofessional Education

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) and cultural competence (CC) training have become a staple to improve patient care. IPE, where students from two or more professions learn from, about, and with each other to optimize care, resulting in great team building, sharing of knowledge, communication, and collaboration. CC involves an individual’s ability to recognize, assess, appreciate, and respect unique backgrounds to make greater informed decisions in healthcare and minimize inequities. Our purpose was to identify the impact of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion IPE single-day event on the perceptions of IPP and ability to provide CC care in students enrolled in Doctor of Osteopathy (DO), Pharmacy, and Athletic Training (AT) programs.

Summary Of Work: Participants (205 pre- and 200 post-) enrolled in DO, pharmacy, and AT programs at two Midwestern universities completed pre/post measures around a one-day conference that included a panel discussion, lectures, and small group discussions. Participants completed the Interprofessional Collaborative Competences Attainments Survey (ICCAS) and three modified components of the Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (mTACCT). Due to uneven sample sizes in the pre- and post-test, and violations of normality and homogeneity of variance, Kruskal Wallis tests were used to assess differences in the intervention.

Summary Of Results: Five ICCAS items and all mTACCT items demonstrated significance. This demonstrated that discussing the professions in general and utilizing case studies and small group discussions allowed students to understand the roles, skills, and responsibilities of peer professionals which improve communication and teamwork resulting in improved patient outcomes and satisfaction for both patients and staff. The results of the mTACCT demonstrated overall improvement in CC but highlighted students are consciously incompetent. Students felt that initially they lacked the ability to identify bias and stereotyping in healthcare but after the intervention felt better equipped.

Discussion And Conclusion: Interprofessional practice and cultural competence are essential to optimize patient care and are foundational tenants of medical education programs regardless of profession. Our findings demonstrate improved perceptions in both interprofessional practice and cultural competence.

Take Home Messages: The use of large scale IPE events can be utilized as an avenue to improve allied healthcare students' knowledge and understanding of cultural competence, communication, and teamwork.