Increasing awareness of the roles, knowledge, and skills of respiratory therapists through an interprofessional education experience

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study were: (1) to assess the use of interprofessional education (IPE) to improve the knowledge and skill levels of nursing and occupational therapy students regarding respiratory therapy (RT) medical devices and techniques, nursing and RT students regarding safe patient transfers, and RT and occupational therapy students regarding safe handling of a patient’s medical lines during transfers and (2) to promote collaborative behaviors. METHODS: A prospective mixed methods approach was used for data collection of an IPE high-fidelity simulation experience involving 73 nursing, occupational therapy, and RT students at an academic medical institution. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative roles and responsibilities and interprofessional communication sub-competency guided the development of the IPE experience. RESULTS: The pre-post paired survey response rate was 82.2%. Significant increases in student perception of learning differed by profession. Student evaluations of the IPE experience suggested that IPE increased students’ knowledge of the procedures performed by the other represented professions and that students were more likely to collaborate with these professions in the future. CONCLUSIONS: IPE improved student knowledge in the roles and responsibilities competency domain. In particular, nursing and occupational therapy students became more aware of the knowledge and skill set of the RT profession.