Assessment and evaluation in interprofessional education: exploring the field.

BACKGROUND The practice of interprofessional education (IPE) is expanding rapidly in the United States and globally. The publication of competencies from the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) was a significant step forward to recognize the importance of health professions collaboration and to guide institutions for educational program development. However, there remains substantial difficulty in implementation, as well as considerable variability in assessment of learners' interprofessional collaborative knowledge and skills and evaluation of IPE programs. METHODS We conducted a multi-methods project which included 20 key informant interviews, a literature review, and a meeting of an expert panel. Our goals were 1) explore the current field of IPE, 2) identify and disseminate best practices to institutions wishing to implement/augment IPE assessment and evaluation processes, 3) uncover gaps in current IPE assessment and evaluation practices, and 4) recommend next steps for the field. RESULTS A small and growing literature indicates evidence of the effectiveness of IPE. A diverse collection of methods and tools are used to assess and evaluate IPE learners and programs; these are often used without an explicit program-evaluation framework. CONCLUSIONS For the field to advance and to align with the demands of changing clinical care systems, robust assessment and evaluation methods, standardized use of common tools, and longitudinal assessment from diverse data streams are needed for IPE.