Advancing Interprofessional Education Research: The Need for a Systematic Approach

Although interprofessional education (IPE) is seen as a prerequisite to collaborative practice that improves health outcomes (World Health Organization, 2010), best practices regarding development, implementation, and assessment of IPE remain elusive. This uncertainty is due, in part, to inconsistencies in reporting within the IPE literature. Determining the effectiveness of a social or behavioral intervention like IPE requires reproducibility, replicability and generalizability of findings (National Science Foundation, 2015).

Systematic reviews of the IPE literature have noted limited descriptions of programs and have advocated for an improvement in this area as a means to compare outcomes across single site studies or study replication (Reeves, Goldman, Burton & Sawatzky-Girling, 2010; Reeves, Perrier, Goldman, Freeth & Zwarenstein, 2013). Abu-Rish et al. (2012) developed the Replicability of Interprofessional Education (RIPE), a template recommended to encourage consistency in reporting. The RIPE is similar to other writing checklists and includes suggestions for describing elements of an IPE intervention and its outcomes in the major sections of a research paper (Abu-Rish et al., 2012). However, the RIPE has never been broadly vetted and the depth and complexity of the field have increased since its publication. The IPE field needs an overarching framework with variables explicitly identified to foster replication studies and provide a framework for considering generalizability.

One framework for considering educational interventions is Fink’s for creating significant learning experiences (2003). This framework may be helpful in systematically developing and reporting IPE experiences and add to the RIPE approach. The framework includes four components: 1) situational factors (context of the teaching and learning, external group expectations, nature of the subject, learner characteristics, faculty characteristics and pedagogical challenges), 2) learning goals, 3) activities and 4) assessment (Fink, 2003).

This session will use these existing frameworks to develop an approach for consistent reporting of IPE variables. This approach would support advancement within the field of IPE by increasing replicability and reproducibility. Incorporating standard variables in methodological descriptions will also facilitate comparisons of single site studies in the short-term and help identify generalizable outcomes through multi-institutional IPE studies.

Objectives:

Participants will

1. Identify existing checklists supporting comparative research.
2. Demonstrate use of Fink’s framework to identify variables for developing and reporting IPE experiences.
3. Share identified variables across the four components of Fink’s framework.

The active brainstorming and sharing components will provide participants with an increased awareness of using and documenting variables during IPE development and scholarly dissemination. This awareness and knowledge will support the goal of identifying a consensus list of variables important for reporting of IPE interventions that promote replicability, reproducibility, testing of generalizability, and promotion of collaborative research while accounting for adaptations and variations between sites.

• 1-10' Present checklists for standardizing reporting; Terminology (interprofessional science, reproducibility/replicability/generalizability); Fink’s framework
• 10-35' Small Group Brainstorming facilitated by presenters (Zoom Breakout Rooms - use Fink’s framework to identify variables)
• 35-55' Large Group Sharing and creation of consensus list (Padlet - share identified variables across four components of Fink’s framework)
• 55-60' Wrap-Up and brief discussion of next steps