Integration of Self and Peer-evaluations for Collaborative Case-based, Nicotine Cessation Events for Pharmacy and Physician Assistant Students
Background:
Over three academic years, students from pharmacy, physician assistant (PA), and dental schools collaborated on interprofessional, case-based nicotine cessation activities. Event evaluation was done through pre- and post-event surveys to gauge self-reported learning outcomes related to interprofessional education. In the 2021-2022 academic year, pharmacy and PA students piloted self- and peer-evaluation utilizing an abridged Interprofessional Collaborator Assessment Rubric (ICAR). The aim was to expand beyond self-evaluation and compare student self-evaluation to peer evaluators. The hypothesis was self-evaluation would be reported with higher competency than peer-evalution.
Design:
A Qualtrics® survey was disseminated to all pharmacy and PA participants within 24 hours of the event conclusion. The survey included student names, discipline, event date, four self- and peer-evaluation questions, and an option to opt out of responses being used for scholarly purposes. Students were requested to complete the survey within 72 hours of receiving the instrument.
Aggregating the data over 6 nicotine cessation interdisciplinary events, competencies related to collaboration, team/teamwork, and roles/responsibilities were self- and peer-evaluated. Each behavior could be evaluated as not observable (0), did not occur (1), occasionally occurs (2), frequently occurs (3), or consistently occurs (4). Mean and standard deviation was summarized in the aggregate.
Results:
Eighty-six students completed the survey, with 51 (59%) allowing results to be used for scholarly purposes in a de-identified manner. In all four evaluated areas, self-evaluation was consistently higher (mean 3.27 – 3.61, SD 0.66-0.77) than peer evaluation (mean 2.92 – 3.14, SD 0.81-0.88). The most significant difference when comparing peer- to self-evaluation was identifying contributions to interprofessional team discussions (team/teamwork competency).
Conclusion:
Accreditors in many healthcare programs require interprofessional competency development. Relying on self-evaluation does not generally meet accreditation requirements; integrating peer- and facilitator assessment tools is needed. This data shows inflation occurring when relying solely on self-evaluation for interprofessional competency. One future area for improvement is also including facilitator evaluation.
Reflections:
This data is used to support the need of expanding evaluation types. Adding longitudinal program evaluation of students may also be explored to examine the hypothesis that students’ understanding of collaboration evolves throughout their education.
Description:
Healthcare accreditors require assessment that evaluates competency in interprofessional learning for collaborative education in both pharmacy and PA programs. This data demonstrates the areas for improvement when relying on student self-evaluation as a measure of competent interprofessional learning, as learners consistently tend to evaluate themselves as more competent than peers.
