Program Evaluation of an Interprofessional Educational Program

In recent years, interprofessional education has received increased attention. However, much of the literature in this area is a theoretical and lacking models that can be followed, suggesting the need for more conceptual development of approaches. IPE is a complex process and needs to be based on factors specific to institutions and participants, not on the assumption that one size fits all. Therefore, ongoing program evaluation is a critical activity in determining the effectiveness of various components of these programs. This presentation will highlight the development and significant evaluative contributions of the evaluation of a 2-year longitudinal university wide interprofessional education experience atThomasJeffersonUniversitysince 2007. The program studied brings together teams of students from medicine, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, public health or pharmacy, who visits an individual with one or more chronic health conditions. Students work collaboratively to conduct life and health histories, review healthcare issues, and discuss expectations of patients related to healthcare providers. Evaluation began with the inception of this IPE program including student and faculty surveys, focus groups, reflection papers and course evaluations. Program evaluation is an iterative process. Surveys were administered to students at the beginning and end of their terms. While results reflected student attitudes were ‘high’, focus groups and course evaluations help dig deeper and led to several program changes including shortening some of the assignments and changing the logistics of the team meetings. Attitude surveys can provide information on a broad scale. However, by themselves, their value is limited. While, qualitative approaches also have limitations, they may provide more valuable in-depth information to identify strengths and weaknesses of a program. As a result, this project is now leaning more heavily on these approaches to gain valuable information from both students and faculty. Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this learning activity, participants should be able to: 1. Relate the evaluative contributions of the 2-year longitudinal university wide interprofessional education experience atThomasJeffersonUniversityto their own intuition. 2. Assess the various types of program evaluation methods discussed and apply them to their own needs