Assessment of Interprofessional Education: Key Issues, Ideas, Challenges, and Opportunities

  • Brian S. Simmons
  • Susan J. Wagner
  • Scott Reeves
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Innovation and Change in Professional Education book series (ICPE, volume 13)

Abstract

Over the past few decades interprofessional education (IPE) has grown within the health professional education. IPE aims to provide learners with interactive experiences in order to prepare them better to work collaboratively to effectively meet the needs of patients, clients, and families. While the IPE literature has expanded significantly in the past few years, efforts to produce rigorous assessment of IPE continue to be a challenge. At present, most IPE assessment is focused on learner self-assessment that only provides a perception of what the learner thinks she/he may have learned. These struggles with assessing IPE appear to be rooted in a number of factors, including uncertainty about what to assess (e.g., individuals, groups, and/or teams), logistical challenges with organizing assessment for large groups of students and limited resources for IPE assessment. Despite these difficulties, it is recommended that the principles of assessment should be adhered to in any IPE activity. This chapter provides an exploration of key issues related to the assessment of IPE. It outlines the purpose of assessment and the use of an assessment blueprint to ensure that learners cover the relevant collaborative competencies. It also reflects on the processes of designing and implementing an IPE assessment activity and conceptualizes what needs to be assessed in IPE. This is illustrated using a clinical competency continuum model that employs the concept of milestones and applies ‘entrusted professional activities’ in a performance framework.

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Brian S. Simmons
    • 1
  • Susan J. Wagner
    • 2
  • Scott Reeves
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of PaediatricsUniversity of TorontoTorontoCanada
  2. 2.Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Faculty of MedicineUniversity of TorontoTorontoCanada
  3. 3.Faculty of Health, Social Care and EducationKingston UniversityLondonUK

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