Health Professional Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Learning at the Emory Farmworker Project, a Community Based Interprofessional Education Program

Despite the rise in awareness and emphasis on the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice, medical education is often still siloed. Opportunities for true IPE are limited in traditional didactics and rotations. The Emory Farmworker Project (EFP) is a 29-year interprofessional service-learning program at Emory University providing care to migrant farmworkers and families in the fields. This care is provided by medical, PA, PT and nursing students, faculty and clinicians and interpreters. EFP has grown intentionally to become more interprofessional, though the impact of the interprofessional nature of EFP has not been formally evaluated. We collected data from focus groups exploring student perception on this aspect of EFP.

Students felt strongly that EFP was a highly impactful experience for IPE. Students noted that the community-based structure of the clinics with multiple professions in one location facilitated co-learning and strongly emphasized that they did not have this opportunity elsewhere in their education. Students preferred the idea of collaborative workflows, including shared problem-solving during patient care, highlighting the importance of well-coordinated roles and responsibilities aimed at improving patient outcomes.Rationale: We offer the Emory Farmworker Project (EFP) as a model to inspire other schools to utilize an innovative approach to interprofessional pedagogy and design opportunities for students to engage with one another beyond traditional curriculum.Impact: Community based interprofessional education programs are high yield learning opportunities for clinical students from multiple disciplines to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of each specialty’s scope and skills. Hands-on exposure to techniques from different clinical disciplines fostered health professional students' learning of new clinical skill sets, provided new approaches to patient assessment and treatment, and enhanced professional growth.Relationship to the conference theme: We share the EFP and its impact on students as an innovative approach to interprofessional pedagogy that addresses IPE gaps in traditional clinical learning structures.