Interprofessional education (IPE) is foundational to safe, modern healthcare and occurs when students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other. ¹ IPE underpins future collaborative clinical practice and promotes appropriate interprofessional awareness of different roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals, including identifying overlapping roles and understanding their individual contributions. ^{Reference Bloomfield, Schneider, Lane, Stehlik and Frotjold2}

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is a critical aspect of training for persons who work in healthcare settings to maintain a safe environment for both patients and healthcare workers. Nursing students have reported dissatisfaction with the content of their infection prevention courses, and evaluation of nursing students’ knowledge of IPC note knowledge is frequently less than the required levels. ^{Reference Al-Hussami and Darawad3} Similarly, medical students self-report good general knowledge, but when questions were asked regarding details of IPC practices, the level of knowledge was lower than self-reported; other students report they value the effectiveness of hand hygiene for reducing the spread of infection, yet they consider IPC learning compromised by other clinical topics in the curriculum. ^{Reference Mann and Wood4–Reference Aouthmany, Mehalik and Bailey6}

The University of South Carolina has a strong commitment to IPE, and with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through Project Firstline, we developed an IPE IPC elective rotation. Interactive seminars paired with practical demonstrations, small group discussions, and simulation activities blended the classroom with real-life clinical situations to assist students with application of IPC principles. The didactic presentations and interactive learning activities progressed in complexity to more advanced topics throughout the rotation. We recruited nursing, medical, pharmacy, and physician associate students to help improve their knowledge of IPC prior to beginning their careers in healthcare, empowering them to apply appropriate IPC principles early in clinical practice (Table 1).

Table 1.

Recruitment of health science students in the infection prevention and control (IPC) interprofessional education (IPE) elective course and students’ feedback

* Including nurse practitioners.

+ Duration of IPC IPE elective course was shortened from 2 weeks to 1 week based on students’ feedback.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the rotation, students completed three assessments on the first and last day of the rotation, with an additional open-ended qualitative feedback opportunity on the last day. The first assessment asked students to rate their perceptions of the quality of interprofessional healthcare teams and teamwork using a previously validated metric, the 14 item Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale. ^{Reference Heinemann, Schmitt, Farrell and Brallier7} Second, knowledge of IPC principles was assessed with a 10-question “quiz”created by the faculty members and clinical experts. The third pre-post assessment was a five item self-assessment of their familiarity and confidence regarding five specific IPC principles: hand hygiene, donning/doffing personal protective equipment (PPE), reporting of hospital metrics such as hospital acquired infections, required vaccines for healthcare workers, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration or infection prevention protocols. Students’ scores remained anonymous but pre and post assessment responses were linked by a randomly assigned letter and number combination for data analysis. Paired responses were analyzed using matched t tests or chi square as appropriate.

Among the 31 students who participated in the pilot program between 2023–2024, scores on the Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale indicated that pre-existing attitudes toward interprofessional healthcare teams were generally high, but significant improvement was seen on two items post-rotation: “Having to report observations to the team helps team members better understand the work of other health professionals” (p = 0.048) and “The team approach makes the delivery of health care more efficient” (p = 0.019). Their overall knowledge scores did not change (pretest average 7.13, posttest average 7.6). Finally, on the self-assessment of IPC principles and skills, students’ confidence increased significantly on all five items (all p < 0.001).

Specifically addressed throughout IPE education is the importance of simulation-based training, which is underutilized in infection prevention. It can be used to improve learners’ sense of competence and confidence and increase patient safety through improved compliance with infection prevention measures, improve healthcare-associated infection rates, and reduce healthcare costs. ^{Reference Kang, Nagaraj and Campbell8} Qualitative comments from students indicated that time in the simulation lab was a favorite session of the students for the ability to see sterile central line and Foley catheter insertions in a non-sterile setting so they could get close to the field. The use of GloGerm for hand hygiene, PPE practice, and also pressing their clean hands onto blood agar plates and retrieving after three days of growth were all mentioned by students as helping them understand IPC skills. We believe that incorporation of simulation activities may have influenced skills and understanding as demonstrated in their confidence scores on IPC principles.

We modeled this curriculum on prior IPE studies that demonstrated success with a combination of lecture-based sessions and small group workshops. ^{Reference Guilding, Hardisty and Randles9} Small groups were preferred in a nursing survey, as it promoted interaction and allowed less confident students to speak up. ^{Reference Ward10} However, this was also a limitation regardless as there were significant challenges coordinating schedules for the different disciplines and limited the ability to reach more health science students and dissemination of the educational material more widely.

Our model of didactic sessions in combination with skills activities was successful in improving students’ confidence in correctly performing IPC related tasks. IPE on infection prevention topics helps with students’ understanding of why IPC is so critical to delivering safe healthcare. Incorporating skills sessions, particularly simulation activities, significantly improved their familiarity and confidence with these skills.