title: E-Learning with virtual teammates: A novel approach to interprofessional education.
abstract: The Institute of Medicine identified interprofessional education (IPE) as a key innovation for achieving the triple aim of better care, better outcomes, and reduced healthcare costs. Yet, a shortage of qualified faculty and difficulty with aligning learners' schedules often prevent sustainable and scalable IPE. A virtual IPE intervention was developed to circumvent these barriers and compared to a blended-learning IPE intervention. We used a pre-test and post-test design with two comparison interventions to test the effects of these IPE interventions on changes in teamwork knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The interventions were delivered to pre-licensure learners at a large, metropolitan medical and a nursing school. We used one-sample and independent-sample t-tests to analyze data from 220 learners who received the blended-learning intervention in 2011 and 540 learners who received the virtual learning intervention in 2012. The students in the blended-learning intervention did not significantly (p < 0.05) outperform the students in the virtual learning intervention for any of the measured outcomes, except for medical students' attitudes around team value. Virtual IPE learning is an effective, scalable, and sustainable solution for imparting foundational teamwork knowledge in health profession students.
authors.affiliation: a College of Nursing, New York University , New York , NY , USA .
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Djukic
authors.affiliation: b School of Medicine, New York University , New York , NY , USA .
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: c Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University , Boston , MA , USA .
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fulmer
authors.affiliation: d New York Simulation Center , New York , NY , USA , and.
authors.forename: Demian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Szyld
authors.affiliation: e Division of Educational Informatics , New York University , New York , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: e Division of Educational Informatics , New York University , New York , NY , USA.
authors.forename: So-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: b School of Medicine, New York University , New York , NY , USA .
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Triola
mesh_terms: D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team; D013336:Students, Health Occupations; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Interprofessional education; medical students; nursing students; teamwork; virtual learning