Investigating the Effectiveness of Different Modalities in Interprofessional Education Simulation Training: Hybrid Vs in-Person

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) highlights the importance of values and ethics, teamwork, communication, and roles and responsibilities for healthcare professionals. Different modalities have been used to teach these professional practice skills. The most effective teaching modality must be determined to enhance the collaborative learning experience. This study evaluated the changes of student perceptions on each interprofessional competencies with respect to their teaching modality. Two groups were evaluated for this study. One was taught using a hybrid curriculum and the other in-person.

Methods: Data was collected using a pre-post survey study design. This study utilized the Students Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education (SPICE-R2) survey to determine the changes in student perceptions towards interprofessional education and interprofessional collaborative practice. A convenience sample (Hybrid N=54; In person N=77) was recruited from Nursing, Nutrition, Physician Assistant, and Social Work students who were participating in the IPE simulation. Student participants were 18% Nursing, 21% Nutrition, 33% Physician Assistant, and 28% Social work. The SPICE-R2 is a 10 item valid and reliable self- reported survey that identifies a three factor model of interprofessional teamwork and team based practice, patient outcomes and roles and responsibilities for collaborative practice. The sum of each factor for pre and post survey was calculated for Roles and responsibilities, Patient outcomes, and Teamwork factor score. Students were asked to rate their experience using an open-ended feedback form. The open feedback forms were gathered into common themes.

Results: The results show that student perceptions significantly improved regarding teamwork, understanding roles and responsibilities of other health care professionals, improving patient outcomes, and overall collaborative practice for the in-person group. The mean and standard deviation of the total sum of SPICE-R2 scores statistically increased from 42.6 ± 0.73 pre-survey to 45.3 ± 0.73 post-survey, p value=0.003. Teamwork, Roles and Responsibilities, and Patient Outcomes factor mean scores statistically changed from 17.7 ± 0.35 to 18.5 ± 0.30, 12.3 ± 0.25 to 13.4 ± 0.24 and 12.7 ± 0.25 to 13.5 ± 0.24, respectively. Anonymous feedback forms showed that students preferred in-person training. The hybrid students collectively stated that aspects of online training were not conductive to their learning styles. Yet, feedback forms showed that IPE competencies were still learned in the hybrid format.

Implications: The findings suggest that students from Physician Assistant Studies, Nursing, Nutrition and Social work improved their perceptions on interprofessional teamwork and team-based practice, roles/responsibilities, and patient outcomes, after participating in an interprofessional simulation. The SPICE-R2 score analysis showed that student perceptions about teamwork, roles and responsibilities and patient outcomes were higher with the in-person training. Feedback evaluations showed an overall theme that students preferred in-person training. To teach IPE competencies, hybrid models can be used as a supportive method to teach the curriculum. However, the greatest change can be seen once more in-person activities are included in the training.