From I to We: The Evolution of Individual Students from Seven Health Professions Programs to a Functioning Interprofessional Team

This study presents a qualitative thematic analysis of the conversations between students from clinical mental health counseling (CMHC), occupational therapy (OT), nursing, physician assistant (PA), physical therapy (PT), social work (SW), and speech-language pathology (SLP) programs at an interprofessional education (IPE) symposium. The analysis describes the evolution from individuals to a collaborative interprofessional team, capturing the evolution as it unfolded. During a 1-day IPE symposium, conversations from one table of 11 students and a faculty facilitator were recorded and analyzed. The team of students was charged with developing a treatment plan and later a discharge plan for a fictional patient who had a stroke. Recordings were transcribed and analyzed using the general inductive approach (GIA). Three main themes were identified: 1) “From I to We” describes the transition from students representing their individual professions to functioning as an interprofessional team; 2) “I think I hear you saying” chronicles the role of the faculty facilitator; and 3) “Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPEC)” describes how the students developed the IPEC competencies for collaborative practice over the course of the symposium. The study is unique because it focused on the analysis of actual interactions, describing the transition from individuals to a collaborative team as it happened, as opposed to analyzing retrospective interviews or surveys, which is more common in the literature. Analyzing the rich content of the interactions provided a window into the team development process. The results demonstrate that this IPE symposium helped students further develop the necessary skills required for collaborative interprofessional practice.