An Interprofessional Education Program for Employees at an Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital

A quality improvement (QI) program called an Educational Program for Interprofessional Collaboration (EPIC) was implemented at an inpatient rehab hospital in Woburn, MA. The purpose of EPIC was to improve employees interprofessional collaboration knowledge and skills as well as create positive perceptions of working in interprofessional teams. Research question one was; do interprofessional education (IPE) training modules increase health professional’s knowledge of interprofessional competencies? Research question two was; does participation in a Grand Rounds Workshop increase health professional’s skills related to interprofessional competencies? A quantitative one group pre-test and post-test design was used. The sample included 23 adult inpatient rehab health care professionals.These professionals consisted of case managers, a charge nurse, nurse manager, nurses, occupational therapists (OT), a pharmacist, physical therapists (PT), physicians, speech language pathologists (SLP), and a therapy manager. A researcher created demographic survey was utilized to understand the characteristics of the population participating. The Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale (ICCAS) was used to obtain information on participants skills in interprofessional collaboration. A researcher created knowledge quiz will be used to assess the participants knowledge gained from the modules. A researcher created satisfaction survey will be used to obtain process evaluation data. The satisfaction survey will help in the development of future IPE programming at the inpatient rehab facility. Descriptive statistics analyses was used to analyze the demographic characteristics of the participants and satisfaction survey data. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical data and mean, and standard deviation was calculated for continuous data. A paired sample t-test will be used to analyze the mean difference and examine significant changes between the pre-assessment and post-assessment ICCAS scores. There was a statistically significant increase in the mean post-test scores of interprofessional collaboration skills. The knowledge quizzes yielded an average of 86%. On the satisfaction survey 95% of participants reported that the learning activities created positive perceptions of working in interprofessional teams. All three goals were met which were increased knowledge on interprofessional collaboration, improved skills in interprofessional collaboration, and the creation of positive perceptions of working in interprofessional teams. The results of this IPE program will impact future research and programming in occupational therapy literature. There is limited research in the use of multimodal programs to increase interprofessional collaboration of employees. Due to this program yielding positive results it can be applied to different settings where OT’s work. Interprofessional collaboration has been said to also increase employee satisfaction and decrease turnover rates, so this program can be used to research it’t impact on turnover rates.

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