Advancing Faculty Interprofessional Teaching Skills Through a Peer Observation and Feedback Program

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the seminar, participants should:

• Discuss the benefits and challenges to implementing an interprofessional teaching observation and feedback program.
• Observe an interprofessional teaching encounter and deliver effective feedback to a colleague.
• Discuss best practices for peer observation and feedback of interprofessional teaching.
• Formulate a plan to implement a peer observation and feedback program for interprofessional teaching at their home institution.

Seminar Description:

To prepare health professions learners with the knowledge and skills needed to achieve core interprofessional collaborative competencies, faculty must be skilled in coaching interprofessional collaboration and communication. In addition to general teaching skills, interprofessional teaching requires knowledge of interprofessional collaborative competencies and skill in navigating challenging topics such as group dynamics, hierarchy and mutual respect. While most institutions rely on student evaluations of faculty to assess faculty interprofessional teaching skills, student evaluations provide a limited perspective.

At our institution we developed an interprofessional teaching observation program (iTOP) with the goals of

1. promoting excellence in interprofessional teaching and
2. creating a supportive community of interprofessional teachers.

In this seminar, we address the Nexus Summit meeting theme of Innovations in Interprofessional Learning, specifically focusing on Faculty/Preceptor Development to facilitate interprofessional learning. We will present the evidence for peer observation of teaching, describe the logistics and best practices for developing an interprofessional teaching observation program and share our experiences in implementing the iTOP program at UCSF.

Additionally, we will share materials including videos and observation forms for training peer observers for interprofessional teaching. For the majority of time allotted, we will facilitate active learning through large group discussions, practice using a structured observation form, and role plays in breakout groups. Participants will have the opportunity to view a video of a scripted teaching scenario, use the iTOP observation form and practice providing feedback to a peer.

Finally, participants will strategize next steps in implementing an interprofessional teaching observation program at their home institutions.

Workshop Outline/Timing

• Introductions - 2 min
• Didactic - 10 min
• Video #1 – Watch video, complete interprofessional teaching observation (iTOP) form, discuss and roleplay feedback in breakout rooms- 17 min
• Large group - Watch feedback video and discuss as a group - 13 min
• Breakout groups - Share local barriers, generalizable solutions, next steps - 10 min
• Large group report out - Each group shares 1 local barrier and 1 generalizable solution - 5 min
• Wrap up/Evaluations - 3 min