The findings suggest that, after the symposium, participants reported more positive overall attitudes about health care teams, and about the quality of care provided by such teams and the teamwork to achieve good patient care. Participants also displayed a decrease in their beliefs about how essential physicians are as leaders of health care teams. These results affirm the use of a brief interdisciplinary educational approach in changing student attitudes about the use of health care teams. Students who develop more positive attitudes about working on an interdisciplinary health care team recognize the team's value and therefore may be more receptive to and effective in working as professional team members in the future.
Elderly patients, including those with dementia, have more complex health care needs, which may be more effectively served by interdisciplinary teams. Yet, few health care students receive interdisciplinary education. This article describes the improved outcomes of a second annual symposium for health care students on interdisciplinary care for older adults with dementia. Students ( n = 109) completed a pre/post assessment using the Attitudes Toward Healthcare Teams Scale. A t-test for paired samples indicated a statistically significant increase in pre-post test scores ( p < .001); we observed a larger effect size of change in student attitudes for this symposium than the first (η 2 = .48). The results support the value of pedagogical changes in facilitating a greater change in student attitudes about interdisciplinary teamwork.
This teaching note discusses the role interprofessional education (IPE) can play in social work education. The Final 2015 Educational Policy (Council on Social Work Education, 2015) includes the term interprofessional collaboration as a descriptor of Competency 7 (Assess individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities) and as a component behavior in Competency 8 (Intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities). We contend that the interprofessional learning initiatives currently under way in many other professions offer opportunities for social work programs as their administrators begin to think about operationalizing these two social work competencies. We present several examples of learning initiatives from our program that can be used to develop student's competence in interprofessional collaboration. In addition, social work's strength as a profession, rooted in collective practice, can be used to move social work into a leadership position in IPE.
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