Interprofessional Education: Medical and dental hygiene student competencies during the delivery of patient care

Purpose: Interprofessional education (IPE) helps prepare health care students for collaborative delivery of patient care. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate changes in self-perceived collaborative competencies of dental hygiene and medical students after a live patient care IPE experience. Methods: Dental hygiene (n=23) and medical students (n=26) were paired for a single-encounter IPE experience with adult patients. Following the collaboration, participants completed the 20-item, seven-point Likert scale retrospective pre- test/post-test Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS) to assess changes in perceived collaborative competencies as a result of the IPE experience. Participants reflected on current and prior self-perceived interprofessional collaborative competence in the areas of communication, collaboration, roles and responsibilities, collaborative patient/ family-centered approach, conflict management/resolution, and team functioning. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: All participants (n=49) completed the IPE survey for a response rate of 100%. Pre-test mean scores ranged from M=5.40, SD=.46 to M=6.31, SD=1.23 and post-test scores ranged from M=6.09, SD=.46 to M=6.72, SD=.86 for all participants. All paired item mean score differences were statistically significant (p