Improving students' perceptions of team effectiveness through an interprofessional community practicum course

In order to accomplish the improved population health component of the Triple Aim, it is necessary to develop students as collaboration-ready to serve in communities with skills to improve population health. The current paper examined the extent to which the experience in an IPE practicum course strengthened undergraduate students' skills and perceptions of the effectiveness of their team while they learned to address the needs of their community members. The educational format was a semester-long IPE Community Practicum experience, where student work in interprofessional teams to implement a project with a community partner. The students were asked to complete the Healthcare Team Fitness Test at the beginning and end of the semester, which served as the data for our analyses. The results suggested significant improvement over the course of the semester in students' perceptions of their team's cohesiveness, team members' contribution, shared learning, shared leadership, and change compatibility. The evidence presented suggests that participation in an interprofessional community practicum improved students' perceptions that their team was effective and functioned well together.