CURRENT ISSUE
BACK ISSUES
SUBSCRIBE
ADVERTISE
ABOUT JCEHP
FOR AUTHORS
JCEHP AWARD
SEARCH
(Members only) FULL-TEXT
|
|
Volume 29 (3)
Volume 29, Issue 3, Summer 2009
J Contin Educ Health Prof 2009; 29(3):168
FOUNDATIONS OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
Assessment of continuing interprofessional education: Lessons learned
Simmons B, Wagner S
A b s t r a c t
Although interprofessional education (IPE) and continuing interprofessional education (CIPE) are becoming established activities within the education of health professions, assessment of learners continues to be limited. Arguably, this in part is due to a lack of IPE and CIPE within in the clinical workplace. The accountability of interprofessional teams has been driven by quality assurance and patient safety, though sound assessment of these activities has not yet been achieved. The barriers to team assessment in CIPE appear related to access and resources. Simulated team training and assessment are expensive, and because of staffing shortages, learning in clinical practice is often the only way forward, but is obviously not ideal. Despite these difficulties, the principles of assessment should be adhered to in any CIPE program. This article explores key issues related to the assessment of CIPE. It reflects on processes of designing and introducing an IPE activity into an existing university curriculum and focuses on determining the purpose of the assessment and the use of collaborative competencies to help determine assessment. The article also discusses the use of an assessment blueprint to ensure that learners are exposed to the relevant collaborative competencies. In addition, the article discusses the use of multiple assessment methods and the potential of simulation in the assessment of CIPE.
Lessons For Practice
- There are limited assessment approaches, methods, and tools for interprofessional education (IPE) and continuing interprofessional education (CIPE).
- Understanding and assessing development of interprofessional teams is an essential component of any CIPE activity.
- Define the purpose of the assessment and ask what you are going to assess, how you are going to assess it, and who will be assessed.
- Define outcomes expected for the CIPE activity how those outcomes may be achieved, and examine how the outcomes can be measured, adhering to good assessment principles.
|