Purpose: Interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP), occurs when health professions work collaboratively with the goal of improved quality of care and services. IPCP is reported to enhance patient outcomes and care providers’ professional and workplace satisfaction, yet there exist myriad challenges to enacting it. Interprofessional education for collaborative practice (IPECP) is considered foundational for promoting collaboration among healthcare students yet there is a gap in understanding how IPECP contributes to students’ professional and interprofessional identity development and preparedness for collaborative practice.
Methods: An interpretive, narrative methodology was employed to understand the IPECP perceptions, experiences and professional practice contributions to identity development for new healthcare professionals in their early years of professional practice. A sample of 24 individuals from a longitudinal study of five health professions (dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physiotherapy) were included.
Findings: Healthcare professionals’ development of a dual identity begins in pre-licensure IPECP but is shaped by socialization experiences within professional practice. Facilitators for the development of a dual identity include exposure to, and working with, interprofessional teams and role models within collaborative settings where they experience the positive impact that IPCP can have on patient care and outcomes. Impediments to interprofessional identity development include exposure to practice settings and situations where professional stereotyping and hierarchies are reinforced by a dominant uni-professional culture in the work environment.
Discussion: This longitudinal, narrative research makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the process of preparing students for interprofessional collaborative practice by emphasizing the importance of post-licensure IPE to enable and foster interprofessional collaboration and dual identity formation among practitioners. Our research also identifies that interprofessional socialization and dual identity development are evolving processes contingent on consistent exposure to interprofessional role models and settings. Our findings provide insight into the settings, scenarios and strategies that enable health care professionals to learn with, from, and about one another within practice settings and highlight the benefits of post-licensure IPE for collaborative interprofessional team, patient care and system outcomes.
This lightning talk addresses conference priority criteria: measurable learning and health outcomes; inclusion of one or more students/learners on the author or presenter team.
In support of improving patient care, this activity is planned and implemented by The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education Office of Interprofessional Continuing Professional Development (National Center OICPD). The National Center OICPD is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
As a Jointly Accredited Provider, the National Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The National Center maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive continuing education credits.
The National Center OICPD (JA#: 4008105) is approved by the Board of Certification, Inc. to provide continuing education to Athletic Trainers (ATs).
This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change.
Physicians: The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education designates this live activity for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with their participation.
Physician Assistants: The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME.
Nurses: Participants will be awarded contact hours of credit for attendance at this workshop.
Nurse Practitioners: The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME and ANCC.
Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians: This activity is approved for contact hours.
Athletic Trainers: This program is eligible for Category A hours/CEUs. ATs should claim only those hours actually spent in the educational program.
Social Workers: As a Jointly Accredited Organization, the National Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The National Center maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive continuing education credits.
IPCE: This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits for learning and change.
Learners can claim CE credit by completing the Daily Evaluation.
