Team decision making: design, implementation and evaluation of an interprofessional education activity for undergraduate health science students

Christine C. Neville, Rachel Petro, Geoffrey K. Mitchell, Susannah Brady

An undergraduate health science student curriculum activity in interprofessional education (IPE) focused on team decision making was piloted. The IPE activity included a lecture, small group learning activity and an onsite observation of an interprofessional health care team (IPHCT) meeting. Measures included the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning scale, Interdisciplinary Education Perception scale and the Role Perception Questionnaires. The students completed a workbook to assess decision making capacity in IPHCTs. The results indicated that students (n = 61) were willing to share their knowledge and skills as a way of understanding clinical problems in the workplace and had professionally oriented perceptions and related affective domains. They also showed a positive role perception of their own role and that of other professions. Analysis of the workbooks revealed that students were able to identify positive and negative impacts on effective team decision making and its effects on a patient centred approach to health care.