Survey of DNP Student Experience in Interprofessional Education and Practice
Background: Successful large enrollment Interprofessional Education (IPE) programs benefit from the expertise of skilled facilitators; however, finding talented facilitators can be challenging. As Registered Nurses, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students typically have years of work experience, making them ideally suited to serve as advanced peer facilitators for IPE offerings. Baccalaureate and DNP nursing programs emphasize interprofessional partnerships as core knowledge required of all healthcare professionals. The aim of this pilot study was to identify factors that correlate with DNP student feelings of preparedness to participate, communicate, collaborate, and lead IPE teams. We sought to recruit and train DNP students to serve as advanced IPE facilitators for our 2021 Foundations of Interprofessional Collaborative Practice course (n=1,200 health sciences students).
Methods: Through a Midwest public university student listserv targeting 518 DNP students, we provided a link to a 27-item survey designed to gauge readiness to serve as IPE facilitators. A 14-item Attitudes Towards Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS) offered Likert-style questions (strongly agree…strongly disagree); 3 items were reverse-scored. Students rated their level of preparedness to participate, collaborate, and lead IPE teams; questions were drawn from DNP Essentials.
Results: 69 students completed the survey (13% response rate). 66 (96%) reported a mean of 3.4 years nursing experience. 32 (48%) completed IPE activities as prelicensure students. Over 80% reported working with an IP team in the clinical setting. 60 (79%) reported no experience teaching in a pre-licensure program; however, 32 (49%) reported serving as clinical preceptor to pre-licensure nursing students. ATHCTS ratings of strongly agree and agree were provided on attitudes towards healthcare teams, except for one item (developing care plans is time consuming). Students reported feeling somewhat to very prepared to participate, communicate, collaborate, and lead IPE teams. >3 years clinical experience was positively correlated (p 5 years of clinical experience completed training and served as advanced peer facilitators in our large scale “Foundations of Interprofessional Collaborative Practice” course. They facilitated 17 small group interprofessional sessions in two immersion events. Positive outcomes related to the DNP student advanced peer facilitators included: 1) Offering DNP students an opportunity to build upon past experiences leading IPE student teams, 2) DNP students received clinical credit toward program requirements, and 3) DNP student participation contributed to having enough facilitators for this large-scale event.
