Professional humility: Perspectives of health professions and gerontology students on how IPE can prepare them for the workforce

As the demand for online education continues to grow, it is critical to implement effective learning strategies. Our goal for this study was to examine how an online interprofessional activity for health science, communication sciences and disorders, nursing, and gerontology undergraduate and graduate students could prepare them for the workforce. In this article, we present the findings of the perspectives of 255 students who participated in an online interprofessional case study activity assessing older adults for cognitive changes. We collected data. Data was collected from written responses in an evaluation from students in a public four-year university in Northern California over five semesters. The themes showed that students felt multiple professionals working in a team approach can provide the best outcomes for the complex care of older adults. Students felt more prepared to enter the interprofessional workforce for the aging population they will serve after completing the activity. Students expressed that the activity provided a humbling awareness of their role within the team and increased their confidence when interacting with other professionals. This theme related to professional humility is a novel finding of this study. Our findings demonstrated the effectiveness and value of interprofessional activities that provide opportunities for students to interact on cases focused on older adults and should be recommended for all health professions students.