Training students in interprofessional collaboration through a student‐led activity

In today's healthcare, effective collaboration between healthcare professionals is imperative for the delivery of high-quality patient care. Interprofessional education (IPE) is a key component of interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) and plays an essential role in preparing healthcare professionals to work together as a team.1 Dental hygienists (DHs) routinely collect medication histories from patients, collaborating with dentists to manage medication-related side effects during patient care. Alternatively, pharmacists serve as a source of medication information for dental providers. However, opportunities for students in these professions to learn about, from, and with each other are limited, facing barriers such as overcrowded curricula, different program schedules, and lack of faculty resources.2-4 To promote better health outcomes for patients, it is crucial to intentionally design IPE opportunities to overcome these barriers and allow students to enhance their IPCP abilities. A new IPE activity was developed, focused on overcoming the aforementioned barriers. The University of Minnesota brought together pharmacy and DH students to form interprofessional groups of around six students. Each group consisted of 1–2 DH students and 4–5 pharmacy students, each assigned different roles (Table 1). To balance the difference in cohort size and bolster the oral health perspective, a pharmacy student was assigned a role as an oral health advocate. The activity was embedded in existing profession-specific courses. Individually, students completed pre-work, researched the other profession's curriculum and scope of practice, and read through three instructor-developed cases related to oral health and pharmacy (Table 2). Similar to other group assignments, student groups were tasked with independently scheduling a video conference meeting to discuss the cases, answer questions, and explore the impact of medications on oral health and the importance of collaboration in patient care. As a group, students reflected on the experience and submitted a group summary. After completing the case discussions and group reflections, students self-assessed their interprofessional collaboration skills before and after the activity by completing the revised Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS-R).5 The IPE activity took about 90–120 min to complete. How many years does a dental hygienist go to school? When graduating from pharmacy school, what level of degree is obtained? What is the scope of practice for a dental hygienist? List potential career options. What is dental therapy? Can dental hygienists prescribe medication? Can they dispense? How many semesters of pharmacology are included in the dental hygiene curriculum? How many years does a pharmacist go to school? When graduating from pharmacy school, what level of degree is obtained? What does a pharmacist do in practice? List potential career options. Is post-doctoral training available and/or required? If so, what does it look like? Can pharmacists prescribe medication? How many semesters of pharmacology and/or medicinal chemistry are included pharmacy curriculum? In the fall of 2020, all (186) students from the second-year-pharmacy (158) and fourth-year DH cohorts (28) completed the required IPE activity, with 172 students completing all aspects of the survey (144 pharmacy and 28 DH students). Every item of the ICCAS-R was statistically significant (p-value < 0.05) for both professions, indicating an increase in students' perceived interprofessional collaboration skills (Table 3), highlighting the activity's success. The activity design was successful as it helped overcome several barriers to IPE implementation. It was conducted synchronously using video conferencing, which brought together students from two campuses and accommodated mismatched curriculum schedules. Assigned roles, especially an oral health advocate, created a better balance for DH representation due to uneven program sizes, ensuring the conversation was not dominated by one perspective. Following initial development, the activity required low faculty resources and was easy to implement in the next academic year. Familiarity with video conference software varied among students, highlighting the importance of clear instructions for asynchronous, student-led sessions outside class time. Overall, this was an effective way to introduce IPE in a structure where it was not previously possible and is designed for replication and further IPE expansion among other professions. The authors have nothing to report. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Jared C. Van Hooser, PharmD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. He is also the Director of the Pharmaceutical Care Learning Center Director on the Duluth campus Morgan K. Hoeft, PharmD, is a Lecturer in the Department of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems. She is also the Director of the Pharmaceutical Care Learning Center on the Twin Cities campus. Cynthia L. Stull, DHSc, MDH, RDH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Primary Care at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. She is also the Director of the Division of Dental Hygiene.