Student-Initiated Interprofessional Case Discussions: Improving Students’ Perception of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice / Studierenden-initiierte Interprofessionelle Fallbesprechungen: Verbesserung der studentischen Wahrnehmung von interprofessioneller Ausbildung und Zusammenarbeit

Lucas Büsser; Fanny Mulder; Corina Zweifel; Marion Huber

doi:10.2478/ijhp-2025-0006

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Student-Initiated Interprofessional Case Discussions: Improving Students’ Perception of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice / Studierenden-initiierte Interprofessionelle Fallbesprechungen: Verbesserung der studentischen Wahrnehmung von interprofessioneller Ausbildung und Zusammenarbeit

International Journal of Health Professions

Volume 12 (2025): Issue 1 (January 2025)

By: Lucas Büsser, Fanny Mulder, Corina Zweifel and Marion Huber

Open Access

|Jul 2025

Abstract

Introduction & Background

Opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE) remain insufficient for healthcare students and young professionals. To address this, the Swiss Health Alliance for Interprofessional Education (SHAPED, www.shaped-ip.ch) has developed a new IPE activity: the Interprofessional Case Discussions (ICDs). Led by a near-peer facilitator, students from different healthcare professions discuss a clinical case in a “murder-mystery” format: Can they catch the murderer (aka the disease) in time to save the patient? This study assessed the impact of the student-initiated ICDs on participants’ IPE perception.

Methods

Students from nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, midwifery, pharmacy, and medicine in interprofessional groups (6–8 students) participated in an ICD at Zurich University of Applied Sciences in spring 2024. The validated Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education–Revised (SPICE-R) self-report instrument was used in a pre-post-design.

Results

In total, 33 participants completed the pre- and post-questionnaire. The overall mean significantly improved from pre- (M = 3.86, SD ± 0.39) to post-ICD ((M = 4.22, SD ± 0.42); paired t-test: t = −5.18, p < .001, n = 33). The calculated effect size (d = 0.88) indicated a strong effect, according to Cohen (1992). After Bonferroni-adjustment for multiple testing, the two subscales teamwork and patient outcome showed statistically significant improvement pre- to post-ICD.

Discussion

Students showed high baseline scores, indicating a positive attitude toward IPE. However, participation in the ICDs further improved their perception of IPE, especially with regard to teamwork and patient outcome. While having limitations that come with a small sample-size, this study supports the efficacy of ICDs and reinforces the benefits of student-initiated IPE activities.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijhp-2025-0006 | Journal eISSN: 2296-990X

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Language: English, German

Page range: 58 - 66

Submitted on: Feb 20, 2025

Accepted on: Jun 11, 2025

Published on: Jul 26, 2025

Published by: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

Keywords:

interprofessional education,

interprofessional collaboration,

student leadership,

peer-teaching,

gamification,

health professions education

Related subjects:

Medicine,

Clinical medicine,

Clinical medicine, other

© 2025 Lucas Büsser, Fanny Mulder, Corina Zweifel, Marion Huber, published by ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 12 (2025): Issue 1 (January 2025)