Team-based Learning for Interprofessional Education

Abstract

Interprofessional education, in which students from different disciplines learn with, about and from one another, can potentially prepare them for their real professional work where they are expected to function in team in the management of complex patients’ needs. In response to this educational need, the programme “Interprofessional Team-Based Learning” (IPTBL) is implemented, involving health care and social care students from twelve undergraduate programmes in two universities: The University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Each of the six instructional units (IUs) was designed around a clinical area which could engage students from complementary disciplines. Before each IU, students were given preclass study materials to study (e.g., journal papers, book chapters, or videos). On the day of the IU, all students (their number ranges from 200 to 500 across the IUs) came to a large hall, where they sat with their pre-assigned team-members to form interprofessional teams. The rest of the IU followed the team-based learning (TBL) process: individual readiness assurance test, team readiness assurance test, appeal, feedback, and application exercise. Contents were designed by disciplinary experts, with the aim of stimulation interprofessional discussion so that students learn with, about and from one another. An electronic platform was developed to facilitate the management of the large number of students. Evaluation data showed a significant positive impact on students in preparing them for their future collaborative work, demonstrating that IPTBL is an effective interprofessional education pedagogy, especially for programme with large number of students.