title: Evaluating the Health "Hubs and Spokes" interprofessional placements in rural New South Wales, Australia.
abstract: Australia has been relatively slow in adopting interprofessional learning (IPL) to prepare health professional students for future collaborative professional practice. A collaborative project between two universities placed senior health professional students in IPL teams in rural southeast New South Wales, Australia, to work on small, locally relevant projects with guidance from locally appointed IPL facilitators. This paper reports on the initial stages of an evaluation of this rural-based IPL intervention using the modified Freeth/Kirkpatrick's 4-level evaluation model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Students' responses were collected using a debriefing questionnaire, the Interprofessional Education Perception (IEPS) and Team Performance (TPS) scales. An audience feedback questionnaire was structured around project objectives.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-nine students participated in 33 IPL teams during the evaluation period included in this study. IEPS scores increased with participation (t=2.803; p=0.007). The TPS showed a statistically significant difference between teams (ANOVA, F(31,45) = 1.982, p=0.018( and a trend toward agreement with audience perceptions of team performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evaluation demonstrated positive short-term outcomes suggesting benefits of this applied approach in preparing students to work interprofessionally.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Sydney, The University of Notre Dame Australia, PO Box 944, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Tel +61 2 8204 4134. pippa.craig@nd.edu.au.
authors.forename: Pippa L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barnard
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Glasgow
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: May
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010560:Personnel Selection; D019035:Rural Health Services; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce