Utilizing Interprofessional Education to Increase Knowledge Regarding Social Work's Scope of Practice

Overview: Collaborative care addresses complex health needs, improves quality of care, and reduces costs. Interprofessional education (IPE) is fundamental to collaborative care and ensures a holistic approach. IPE prepares social work students for their healthcare team role and increases knowledge regarding social work’s scope of practice for students from other disciplinesProposal text: Learning Outcome: Participants will be able to articulate the role of Interprofessional Education in identifying social work’s scope of practice for students in health related disciplines.
As healthcare needs continue to grow, and expand in complexity, a broad understanding of the roles of healthcare providers in collaborative care is essential for ensuring quality driven, cost-effective outcomes (Berwick, et al., 2008; Wranik, et al., 2019). The foundation of collaborative care, Interprofessional Education (IPE) positions students to collaborate with disciplines commonly encountered in healthcare settings. Social workers have a critical role in addressing complex health needs yet their responsibilities are often opaque. Role clarification and the ability to educate others about social work is an invaluable skill set necessary for social work leadership. In concordance with Social Identity Theory, role clarification can challenge negative assumptions and poor attitudes when establishing team identity (Hogg, et al., 1995; Pecukonis, et al., 2008; Pecukonis, 2014).
IPE improves team attitudes and effectiveness, supports role clarity, and reduces conflict (Alexander et al., 2017; Hudson et al., 2017; Zamjahn, et al., 2018)). Students may initially have minimal information or preconceived ideas about what others do, but IPE helps develop an integrated identity and challenges these assumptions. Being prepared to educate and articulate social work’s scope of practice is especially important in medical settings where multiple diverse disciplines must collaborate to optimize care. Learning these skills as a student creates a collaborative foundation for professional practice in health settings; however, social work is rarely represented in the literature related to IPE (Kobayashi & Fitzgerald, 2017).
This study used a repeated cross-sectional design over three years to assess student perceptions of social work’s scope of practice following an IPE training, the Interprofessional Collaboration and Team Skills (iCATS), a brief IPE activity consisted of two half-day sessions. Facilitated by program faculty and the Center for Interprofessional Health Education, iCATS includes students in dentistry, health sciences, communication sciences and disorders, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, medicine, nursing, social work, pharmacy, and public health. Notably, iCATS utilizes patient simulation training, discussion, and critical self and team reflection with a voluntary retrospective pre-post-test survey design upon completion. The Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS) evaluated perceived gains in abilities related to interprofessional competencies (Archibald, et al., 2014). A paired samples t-test with a two-tailed test of significance compared pre-post-test differences for all measures.
Overall, findings showed that social work students perceived benefits from the IPE activity as demonstrated by self-reported gains in knowledge regarding interprofessional competencies and other professionals’ scope of practice. Furthermore, non-social work students had a greater understanding of the social work scope of practice and reflected significant changes in their understanding of the role of the social worker in collaborative care.
IPE prepares social work students for their role on the health care team as well as increases knowledge regarding social work’s scope of practice for students from other disciplines. Through IPE activities, social work students can promote and integrate their intra-professional culture and role within the interprofessional team.