A Framework for Assessing Teamwork and Communication Skills in Interprofessional Education

• In Event: 69.028 - Assessment of Behavioral and Noncognitive Competencies: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?

Abstract

Objectives

The Institute of Medicine has recommended that health professionals be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team (Greiner & Knebel, 2003). As a result, interprofessional education (IPE) programs have grown and a number of professions now have accreditation requirements related to IPE. However, frameworks and methods for assessing learners are still evolving, and instruments for measurement are limited (Abu-Rish et al., 2012). The purpose of this presentation is to introduce a model for defining interprofessional behaviors and discuss strategies for assessment.

Theoretical Framework

Several organizations have published competencies for interprofessional practice that were defined by expert consensus (Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel, 2011; Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, 2010; World Health Organization, 2010). While these models provide end points for interprofessional education, they do not delineate the steps to developing or assessing expertise.

Methods

To guide curriculum development, we have adopted a model in which learners move through five stages of skill acquisition: novice, beginner, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, expert (Benner, 1982). We used expert consensus to define the behaviors of interprofessional collaborative practice at each of the five stages and mapped them to our existing and developing IPE activities for early learners and advanced learners. Tools were then developed for peer assessment and faculty assessment of the specific interprofessional behaviors targeted in each activity, including the domains of teamwork and communication.

Data Sources

This session will focus on data from peer assessments and faculty assessments in two team-based IPE activities: (1) a didactic classroom-based course on foundations of interprofessional practice for early learners in seven health professions programs, enrolling approximately 500 students annually, and (2) an online case-based activity for advanced students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work, which enrolls about 600 students annually.

Results

In our course for early learners, peer assessment is based on a rubric without a maximum point budget, and responses are heavily skewed toward high ratings. Faculty evaluate teams using their work product as evidence for competence in teamwork and communication, and there is no correlation between individual and team ratings. In our activity for advanced learners, however, peer evaluation is budget-based; students allocate points to each team member and cannot exceed a total budget for the team. These ratings are highly correlated (r = .60, p < .001) with faculty ratings of teamwork and collaboration among the same individuals.

Significance

Finding ways to evaluate students and teams on the behaviors of teamwork and communication is critical to ensuring that health professions students emerge from degree programs with skills that will enable them to operate as effective members of interprofessional teams. We have some evidence for the validity of global assessments by peers and faculty, but we have also seen evidence that these ratings may be inaccurate. Exploring the use of other types of measures (e.g., interprofessional OSCEs, situational judgement tests, clinical simulation, etc.) and finding ways to triangulate evidence will help improve our ability to measure teamwork and communication as the IPE field advances.

Author

• Kelly S. Lockeman, Virginia Commonwealth University