Development of a student intervarsity interprofessional healthcare team challenge to promote collaboration and teamwork

Abstract

This curricular report describes the development and evaluation of an intervarsity competition entitled the All-Ireland Interprofessional Healthcare Challenge (AIPEC). Students from eight universities across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland take part in this extracurricular event on an annual basis. In this manuscript, we report on the development of the case and on the findings of a student evaluation of the event following the 2022 event using the Assessment of the Interprofessional Team Collaboration Scale for Students (AITCS-II student version). Of the 34 students who participated in AIPEC 2022, responses were obtained from 24 (70.6 % response rate). Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive including positive agreement in all four AITCS-II subscales (partnership, coordination, cooperation and teamworking). Free text comments further endorse the event as a positive, collaborative student learning opportunity. In conclusion, our experience has shown the AIPEC to be a beneficial learning experience for students, with clear benefits in developing clinical knowledge and attitudes towards collaborative practice and teamworking.