gms | German Medical Science

Background: Although longitudinal Curricula for Interprofessional Education (IPE) are running worldwide for almost two decades now, only few exist in Germany. In most cases solitary workshops take place, mainly at a later stage of training. Our objective was therefore to design an IPE Curriculum along the first three years of the nursing and medical Curricula.

Methods: Based on the four Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice [1] we created seven workshops (50 hours) on: Dealing with Mistakes, Emergency Care, Ethics, Wound Management, Taking Medical/Nursing History & Handover, Breaking Bad News and Discharge Management. Our teaching approach involved teambuilding, seminars, practical courses, group discussions, simulation patients, role play and case reviews. Participation was mandatory. The first run of the curriculum (October 2016–January 2019) included 27 nursing trainees, 50 medical and 51 nursing students. At the end of each workshop a paper-based questionnaire with two open and ten Likert-scaled questions (1=strongly agree, 5=strongly disagree) was handed out. An individual code enabled an anonymous longitudinal analysis.

Results: 88% of the nursing trainees, 54% of the medical students and 86% of the nursing students attended at least four of the workshops. Out of these participants 53% (N=50) completed our questionnaire each time. On average, the participants stated an overall increase in their interest in IPE (Mean: 1,9; Min.–Max.: 1,0–3,2), which did not differ between groups (p=0,6). However, the workshops on Emergency Care (Median: 2,5, Min.–Max.: 2,0–4,0) and Wound Management (Median 3,0, Min.–Max.: 1,0–5,0) were less effective among medical students compared to the other groups (p=0,04 and p=0,02). The medical students´ feedback revealed a lack of interprofessional and practical elements in these workshops. Furthermore, the above results may have been influenced by the participants’ motivation. Medical students were the least motivated during the Wound Management workshop (Median: 3,0, Min.-Max.: 2,0-5,0) compared to the other workshops (p=0,03) and to the other groups (p=0,004) and their motivation correlated positively with the stated improvement of interest in IPE (r=0,607, p=0,0001). The highest motivation levels among all three groups were reported for the Workshop on Ethics (Median: 2,0, Min.–Max.: 1,0–3,0). Age, sex, previous clinical or interprofessional experience did not affect attendance and did not correlate with the increase of interest in IPE.

Conclusion: This Curriculum increased the participants’ interest in IPE independently of their profession. Curriculum developers should consider the importance of interprofessional interactions for medical students, as well as the different motivation levels of all participants, when designing IPE curricula.