Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 3:12:215-225.
doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S293735. eCollection 2021.

Evaluation of an Interprofessional Learning Experience for Telephone Consultations

Shala Cunningham  1 , David W Musick  2 , David B Trinkle  3
Affiliations

Evaluation of an Interprofessional Learning Experience for Telephone Consultations

Shala Cunningham et al. Adv Med Educ Pract. .

Abstract

Background and purpose: There is limited training for healthcare students in the performance of telephone consultations. To facilitate communication between healthcare professionals when face-to-face interactions are not possible, a telephone consultation simulation was developed. The simulation involved students in a doctor of physical therapy program and senior medical students. This study aimed to explore the development and suitability of a simulated case with a focus on interprofessional telephone consultation.

Methods: A convenience sample of 28 physical therapy students and 38 medical students from two institutions in southwest Virginia participated in the simulation experience. To assess the outcomes of the simulation on interprofessional communication, the IPASS verbal handoff assessment was performed by the participants and focus group interviews occurred immediately following the experience. In addition, an assessment of key information provided during the conversation was performed for each of the seven interprofessional groups.

Results: Students demonstrated near perfect agreement on the IPASS assessment. Five of the seven interprofessional groups perceived that they were able to communicate key information and collectively agree upon a recommendation for the continuation of the patient assessment. The two groups that demonstrated more difficulty with communication appeared to struggle with communicating the patient's past medical history relevant to the current situation, despite the majority of students feeling confident in their communications. In addition, two themes were presented during the interprofessional focus group interviews: 1) clear communication to maintain patient safety and 2) efficiently conveying the patient's background.

Discussion: The health professions students participating in the scenario were able to consistently note the communication skills observed and reflect upon the need for clear communication between providers during a patient consultation. Key components of an efficient telephone consultation were identified, along with opportunities to improve this type of interaction between health professionals.

Keywords: communication skills; interprofessional clinical consultation; interprofessional education; telephone medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Case scenario, interprofessional telephone consultation simulation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interview guide for debriefing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chen F, Delnat CC, Gardner D. The current state of academic centers for interprofessional education. J Interprof Care. 2015;29(5):497–498. doi:10.3109/13561820.2014.1002908 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC). What is interprofessional education. Available from: https://www.ipecollaborative.org/about-us. Accessed February 26, 2021.
    1. Guraya SY, Barr H, Kaohsiung J. The effectiveness of interprofessional education in healthcare: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Med Sci. 2018;34(3):160–165. - PubMed
    1. Abu-Rish E, Kim S, Choe L, et al. Current trends in interprofessional education of health sciences students: a literature review. J Interprof Care. 2012;26(6):444–451. doi:10.3109/13561820.2012.715604 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mehrotra A, Forrest CB, Lin CY. Dropping the baton: specialty referrals in the United States. Milbank Q. 2011;89(1):39–68. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0009.2011.00619.x - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources