Piloting an interprofessional virtual cadaveric dissection course: Responding to COVID‐19

Abstract

Interprofessional learning improves students' clinical and interprofessional competencies. COVID‐19 prevented delivering in‐person education and motivated the development of a virtual interprofessional cadaveric dissection (ICD) course. This study reports on the effects of a virtual ICD course compared to a previously delivered in‐person course, on students' readiness for, and perceptions about, interprofessional learning. Students attending the ICD course in‐person (2019–2020) or virtually (2020–2021) completed the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS). Students in the virtual course also provided written feedback. Thirty‐two (24 women; Median: 24 [Q1‐Q3: 22–25] years) and 23 students (18 women; 22 [21–23] years) attended the in‐person and virtual courses, respectively. In the virtual cohort, the RIPLS total score (82 [76–87] vs. 85 [78–90]; p = 0.034) and the roles and responsibilities sub‐score (11 [9–12] vs. 12 [11–13]; p = 0.001) improved significantly. In the in‐person cohort, the roles and responsibilities sub‐score improved significantly (12 [10–14] vs. 13 [11–14]; p = 0.017). No significant differences were observed between cohorts (p < 0.05). Themes identified in the qualitative analysis were advantages and positive experiences, competencies acquired, disadvantages and challenges, and preferences and suggestions. In‐person and virtual ICD courses seem to have similar effects on students' interprofessional learning. However, students reported preferring the in‐person setting for learning anatomy‐dissection skills.

Student perceptions of hybrid delivery of interprofessional anatomy—The best of both worlds?

“…The use of Q-methodology also highlighted that students from all groups agreed that both the virtual and in-person settings were suitable for carrying out IPE activities and developing interprofessional competencies. This finding is consistent with the results of a previous study that compared IPE competencies in different student cohorts in virtual and in-person anatomy-dissection courses, which showed similar results (Oliveira et al, 2023). Specifically, these courses were effective in increasing awareness of others' and one's own roles and in developing the ability to work on multidisciplinary teams to improve patient care (Oliveira et al, 2023).…”

“…In Q-methodology, a concourse is a list of statements representing the total range of opinions expressed about the study topic. In this study, the concourse was developed from multiple resources including contextual feedback provided by the 2020-2021 student cohort who had undergone a fully online dissectionanatomy course (Oliveira et al, 2023), previous literature on in-person courses (Fernandes et al, 2015;Zheng et al, 2019;Mackinnon et al, 2022), and from experts in the anatomy, dissection, and IPE fields. The concourse, a comprehensive list of 52 quotes about attitudes toward the course, was reviewed in a meeting by the research team to eliminate statements with the same or similar meaning, ensure consistent interpretation, and clarify statement meaning and alignment with the meaning of the initial statement.…”

“…Similar to previous research on fully in-person and virtual anatomy learning scenarios, our hybrid course had a positive impact on student attitudes toward IPE. However, it also revealed weaknesses in the outcome measures used to present a comprehensive range of student perspectives on the IPE anatomy experience (Sytsma et al, 2015;Thistlethwaite, 2015;Oliveira et al, 2023).…”

“…Using Q-methodology, however, we were able to overcome the limitations of Likert scale-based evaluations and identify three distinct perspectives that reflected diverse student experiences, including those who found virtual and interprofessional learning challenging. Previous studies have shown that fully virtual anatomy courses have limitations for learning anatomy, and are not preferred by most students (Wainman et al, 2018;Singal et al, 2021;Oliveira et al, 2023). However, recent research has demonstrated the benefits of integrating virtual learning with in-person instruction, leading to improved course grades and better understanding of anatomy (Darras et al, 2019;Boscolo-Berto et al, 2021).…”

“…Previous research demonstrated delivering anatomy dissection courses in an interprofessional environment improves students' clinical skills, role clarity, and attitudes toward other health professions (Fernandes et al, 2015;Zheng et al, 2019;Mackinnon et al, 2022). During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a need to adapt all learning content to the virtual environment, which resulted in positive effects on students' interprofessional learning similar to in-person dissection courses, but lower self-reported anatomy acquired skills (Albalushi et al, 2022;Oliveira et al, 2023). Although successful to some extent, it became obvious that replacing all teaching modalities with virtual learning was not the most appropriate method to teach anatomy to an interprofessional audience.…”