Students’ Perspectives on a Two-Year Longitudinal Interprofessional Education (IPE) Experience

The purpose of this seminar is to present the perspectives and reflections of students relative to their participation in a two-year longitudinal interprofessional education (IPE) experience and the impact the program has had on their clinical and academic work. A multiprofessional teaching institution has provided a two-year longitudinal IPE experience for the past 5 years. The program includes faculty and students from couples and family therapy, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy and physical therapy. Continuous improvement of the program has largely been based upon the feedback provided by students. The two-year longitudinal program brings together students from two or more disciplines and pairs them with a health mentor, a community adult volunteer who is living with one or more chronic conditions or disabilities. Student teams, together with the mentor, complete four curriculum modules over two years. The overarching goals of the program are for the students to: 1) understand the roles of other members of the healthcare team; 2) value the perspective of the patient and patient-centered care; and 3) appreciate the interface between a person’s health condition(s) and his or her personal and environmental factors. Faculty are often the presenters at conferences on IPE curriculum and its outcomes relative to student participation. This seminar will provide an opportunity to hear directly from the students. The student panel will provide candid responses to open-ended questions posed by faculty. There will be time during the session for the audience to question the student panelists as well. Students who have completed a two year IPE experience, and have had time for reflection, offer unique perspectives on IPE curriculum. This seminar will be of interest to those who are developing new and/or are changing existing IPE experiences. Learning Objectives: Following participation in this seminar, attendees will be able to: 1. Discuss the variety of student responses to a two-year longitudinal IPE experience. 2. Use feedback garnered from the students to develop and/or make changes to IPE experiences at their institution