A Geriatric Interprofessional Education Workshop: A Mixed Method Study

Interprofessional healthcare teams are essential for meeting the needs of our older population. To prepare for interprofessional collaboration, educational programs should offer opportunities for interprofessional education. We created a four-hour geriatric interprofessional workshop addressing cognition, macular degeneration, dysphagia, home safety, fall risk, and pharmacotherapy to examine student perceptions of working in interprofessional teams and their attitudes toward geriatric patients. Participants included 189 second-year medical (MD) students, 41 first-year occupational therapy (OT) students, and 36 second-year physical therapy (PT) students. We utilized a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach. Data analysis comprised descriptive statistics, paired t-tests for the pre/post surveys, and inductive content analysis to examine the focus group transcript. One hundred twenty students completed the pre/post surveys. Results demonstrated significant increases in students’ perceptions of the value of interprofessional teams (pp=.013) and post-hoc analysis (p=.016). The themes expressed by participants during the focus group included collaboration, team roles, the value of IPE, and recommendations for future IPE activities. Our findings demonstrate that our geriatric educational workshop significantly improved students’ perception of the value of interprofessional teams.