Collaborative Practice Education: The Effect of an Interprofessional Teamwork Course on Students’ Knowledge and Skills

An interprofessional leadership course for medical, nursing, and physician assistant students was the setting for teaching communication, self-reflection, and team skills. Students completed the Self-Efficacy for Interprofessional Experiential Learning (SEIEL) Scale, the Team Skills Scale Adjusted, and a survey assessing knowledge of healthcare professions, to evaluate changes in student’s knowledge, confidence, and skills in interprofessional learning. Overall students rated their knowledge of role and scope of practice for health professions as significantly higher at the end of the course. This was also true of each of the individual profession groups. There was also a significant increase in overall students’ confidence in their ability to carry out the student role in interprofessional learning and in self perceived team skills. However, when individual professions were analyzed separately, the nursing student group was the only group to show significant differences. © 2013, Springer International Publishing.