Interprofessional Assessment Strategies: Development of an Interprofessional Situational Judgment Test

Interprofessional education (IPE) programs and centers have erupted in the last decade to respond to the adoption of collaborative practice standards and to meet accreditation standards (Bodenheimer & Sinksy, 2014; WHO, 2010). Although the prevalence of IPE is increasing, research measuring competency achievement in IPE is underdeveloped (MacDonald et al., 2010; Shrader et al., 2017).

Interprofessional assessment tools are plentiful, but most rely on student self-report of their abilities rather than performance data. As evaluation of program objectives is an integral component of successful IPE, assessment strategies should be further developed and researched (MacDonald et al., 2019). Therefore, the presenters seek to develop an assessment tool to evaluate the Creighton University Center for Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research (CIPER) internal interprofessional educational activities, interprofessional program objectives, and student preparedness for interprofessional practice.

The situational judgment test (SJT) is a standardized assessment approach containing questions that require test takers to select their most likely action in various circumstances (Smith et al., 2020; Tiffin et al., 2019). Traditionally used for professional school admission, these exams have been used as reliable and valid tools to measure students’ abilities in the affective domain (Smith et al., 2020). SJTs potentially have the ability to provide a consistent, cost-effective method to assess the way an individual will communicate or perform in a clinical setting (Tiffin et al., 2019; Webster et al., 2020; Yudkowsky et al., 2020). Investigators in this presentation have chosen to adopt a situational judgement test to assess interprofessional skills (IP SJT) and calibrate it to the CIPER Learner Blueprint.

In this presentation, the investigators will highlight current interprofessional assessment methods for interprofessional activities and centers, discuss the CIPER Learner Blueprint and how it was utilized to develop the IP SJT, and highlight the focus group feedback from content experts on validity and reliability strategies. Early pilot data will be presented along with the successes and challenges in creation of the exam. Participants will also have an opportunity to participate in our research study by completing the IP SJT and offering feedback on this assessment strategy.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to...

1. Compare current assessment strategies of interprofessional educational activities.
2. Discuss situational judgment exams and how they may be applied to interprofessional skill assessment.
3. Describe the development of a situational judgment test using the CIPER Learner Blueprint to assess interprofessional skills

Seminar Outline (expected length of time):

1. Importance of IPE (10)
2. Overview of Creighton University’s CIPER & Learner Blueprint (10)
3. Development of the IP SJT (15)
4. Focus Group Feedback: reliability & validity (10)
5. Emerging Pilot Data: success and challenges (5)
6. Questions (10)
7. Optional: Take IP SJT (30)