Building and Sustaining an Institutional Required IPE Systematic Assessment – Results and Lessons Learned

Seminar Description: 
Learning Objectives:
• Explore ways to build the infrastructure for institutional IPE Systematic Assessment
• Learn about the longitudinal and systematic approaches in assessing IPE impact
• Discuss the significance of the two-year IPE assessment results on students’ collaborative practice-readiness

As the field of IPE grows, the need for systematic assessment of IPE program effectiveness is increasing. While many academic institutions conduct IPE assessments as voluntary pre-post IPE offering survey, the University of Wisconsin-Madison requires all health science students to participate in the IPE Systematic Assessment. This consists of a pre- and post-IPE evaluation at the start and the end of each academic year with the goal to examine the impact of all UW–Madison IPE offerings on students’ progress towards interprofessional socialization, dual identity, and IPEC Competencies.

Conducted by the UW Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (UW CIPE), the pre- and post-evaluation surveys include demographic information, Dual Identity Scale (DIS), the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale, and the IPEC Core Competencies. The program participants include: Genetic Counseling, Medicine, Nursing, OT, Pharmacy, PT, PA, MPH, Social Work, and Veterinary Medicine.

While the results of 2022-2023 assessment are under development (and will be presented in the Seminar), the results from 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 pre- and post-evaluations (completed by over 2,000 students) demonstrate that:
• Cross-professional student perspectives in value other professions compared to their own professions have significantly improved. Our findings demonstrate that there is a reduced gap between rating ‘own profession’ and ‘other professions’ across all programs in multiple domains.
• Students have started to develop a sense of belonging to interprofessional teams in which they simultaneously view themselves not only as a member of their own profession but also a part of the larger interprofessional team/community (also called dual identity development).
• Students across many programs reported an increase in one or more of the IPEC Core Competencies, specifically in IPEC Roles and Responsibilities, Communication, and Teamwork.

The results reveal that dedicated IPE-designated offerings at the UW-Madison are effective in helping students to (1) develop a better understanding of what IPE is and what it means for optimization of health outcomes, (2) increase appreciation for the breadth, depth, and value of knowledge and expertise of other professions, (3) improve their interprofessional competencies across multiple domains, and (4) to become collaborative practice-ready students/graduates by developing a sense of belonging to own profession and the interprofessional community.

As per the results, it seems students whose programs provide them with (more) IPE required opportunities, have reported higher post-evaluation ratings in almost all the collected data. This might provide additional support that in order for IPE to be effective in preparing collaborative-practice-ready students/graduates, programs need to integrate IPE into curricula. Areas to watch in upcoming years include, greater willingness in learning with other professions, increased ability and comfort in working in/with interprofessional teams, and further improvement in interprofessional competencies.
While engaging participants in small and large group activities, interprofessional curriculum& assessment tools will be shared as a model to enhance IPE and outcomes.