Faculty Perspective on Interprofessional Education Competencies: Respiratory Therapy Compared to Other Allied Health Professions

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional Education (IPE) provides a framework for collaborative education between health care specialties to improve patient care. In 2010, the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel established the competencies of communication, ethics, roles and responsibilities, and teams and teamwork. Studies have assessed knowledge and attitudes about IPE in several allied health educational programs including respiratory therapy (RT). METHODS: We compared RT faculty to athletic training (AT), nutrition (NT), occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and dental hygiene (DH) faculty. Faculty were asked to rank the IPE competencies according to importance. RESULTS: RT faculty ranked communication first, then teams and teamwork, roles and responsibilities, and last ethics. A Kruskal-Wallis Dwass-Steel-Chritchlow-Fligner pairwise analysis showed statically significant differences among allied health faculty rankings of IPE competencies. In communication, RT faculty responded statistically higher than AT (P < .001), DH P < .001), NT P < .001), and OT (P = .003). In ethics, RT faculty responded statistically lower than DH (P < .001), NT (P = .01), and PT (P < .001). In roles and responsibilities, RT faculty responded statistically higher than AT (P = .007) and OT (P < .001). In teamwork, RT faculty responded statistically higher than AT (P = .02), DH (P < .001), OT (P = .002), and PT (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: RT faculty who teach at different degree levels (associate's degree programs vs bachelor's and master's degree programs) had the same ranking of competencies, but they had a statistically significant difference for teamwork, with associate's degree faculty ranking teamwork lower than bachelor's and master's degree faculty.