Interprofessional Education Readiness with Nursing and Health Information Management Students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Healthcare teams are comprised of several individuals from various backgrounds who must respect each other and understand each other's roles and responsibilities while effectively communicating to work toward the shared goal of quality patient care. Interprofessional education (IPE) prepares health professions students for collaboration and communication in the workforce which ultimately improves patient outcomes. Early exposure to learning and working with other health professions students helps build the foundation for interprofessional understanding and respect. This explanatory, sequential mixed methods study aimed to evaluate, via a validated IPE readiness assessment, IPE and IPE readiness with Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Health Information Management (HIM) students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) before and after participating in an introductory IPE workshop known as "IPE is Key." The researcher also aimed to explore these students' perceptions of and experiences with IPE and interprofessional collaborative practice via two student focus groups. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed to better answer the research questions. The results of a statistically significant difference in pre/post assessment scores (p<0.001), in conjunction with the observed increase in mean scores, suggested that the "IPE is Key" workshop significantly improved the readiness of these students for IPE. Additionally, students' perceptions revealed a need for increased exposure to each other and IPE during their academic years at the UL Lafayette. This study's findings highlight the need for an annual introductory IPE workshop for early BSN and HIM learners and the potential to include other health related professions students at UL Lafayette. The findings also suggest that the introductory workshop may improve the readiness for and satisfaction with the fall-semester IPHE 310 interprofessional academic course which includes BSN and HIM students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]