title: Fostering Interdisciplinary Communication between Pharmacy and Nursing Students.
abstract: Objective. To evaluate pharmacy and nursing student self-perceptions of interdisciplinary communication skills, faculty member perceptions of interdisciplinary communication skills, and changes in those skills after increasing the interdisciplinary education content. Design. Two cohorts of pharmacy and nursing (bachelors of science in nursing, BSN) students in respective, semester-long research courses engaged in active learning on interdisciplinary communication, with the second cohort receiving additional content on the topic. At semester completion, students presented a research project at an interdisciplinary poster session. Assessment. Self-, peer-, and faculty evaluations (4 items; 5-point Likert-type) assessing self-confidence and actual interdisciplinary communication skills were completed during the poster session. Overall, students responded they were "very confident" or "extremely confident" regarding the skills, with greater confidence reported by the second cohort. Faculty members agreed that students exhibited effective interdisciplinary communication skills, with stronger agreement for the second cohort. Conclusion. Including interdisciplinary education and experiences in a curriculum increases students' interdisciplinary communication skills. Using multiple interdisciplinary experiences may result in greater increases in these skills.
authors.affiliation: Cedarville University School of Pharmacy, Cedarville, Ohio.
authors.forename: Aleda M H
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kiersma
authors.affiliation: Cedarville University School of Nursing, Cedarville, Ohio.
authors.forename: Carrie N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Keib
authors.affiliation: Cedarville University School of Pharmacy, Cedarville, Ohio.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cailor
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008297:Male; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013338:Students, Nursing; D013339:Students, Pharmacy; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: assessment; communication; interdisciplinary; pharmacy education; poster session