Evaluation of a Statewide IPE Experience to Mitigate Vaping Misinformation
Interprofessional Student Poster Description:
Background: Interprofessional Education (IPE) is resource intensive. Based upon institutional resources, IPE can be challenging to develop, implement, and assess. To address these issues, the Louisiana Interprofessional Consortium held a statewide IPE event. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the event to identify its strengths and weaknesses for future IPE events.
Methods: The event included 9 different institutions and represented 13 programs with a total of 406 students. Participants were asked to complete a pre-work activity prior to the event and then divided into small groups to discuss their respective roles in health misinformation and vaping. A voluntary survey consisting of multiple choice and short-answer questions was collected at the end of the event. Quantitative and qualitative responses were analyzed.
Results: For a majority of participants (63.55%), this was the first time they had participated in an IPE experience. Most (93.1%) strongly agreed that the experience provided the opportunity to share their training, knowledge, and/or perspective with students from other health professions. A majority of participants (81.03%) felt that the experience had adequate time built into it and that they would recommend the experience to their peers (82.27%). Qualitative analysis revealed prominent themes regarding the benefits of having IPE discussions: sharing different perspectives (57.5%), collaboration (36.72%), and a newfound understanding of roles (28.2%). Participants cited having up-to-date patient education (33.07%) and a common goal (25.65%) as the two most prominent ways to share accountability as a team. The most highlighted lessons from the experience included the opportunity to share perspectives (23.67%) and to learn about other professions (22.06%). Most participants did not feel that any modifications were needed to improve the experience or did not respond regarding this aspect (46.83%), but 19.51% wanted more engagement from team members.
Conclusion: The statewide IPE event was successful in terms of its participation rate and reported outcome data. Most participants walked away with novel ideas surrounding IPE collaboration and a deeper understanding of and appreciation for other health professions.
Lessons learned: There were some individual participants who expressed frustration due to disorganization within their small groups. Furthermore, a virtual format may have limited the degree of engagement. The event would potentially benefit from increased time for participation and clearer instructions for all team members.
