Effective Programmatic Tutor Training for Interprofessional Problem-Based Learning

A provincial initiative to encourage interprofessional education and research resulted in the implementation of three interprofessional PBL (iPBL) modules at the University of Saskatchewan. The ambitious target of 1200 student iPBL experiences over three years presented a substantial teaching development challenge. Training incorporated many of the elements of effective workshops recommended in the literature. One effective feature of the tutor training program was a tutor support program offered both before and after the actual iPBL tutorial sessions. All three sources of evaluation data indicated that the iPBL tutor training was effective: participant satisfaction, student evaluations of tutors, and tutor self-assessments. Health Canada, a department of the federal government, sponsored and generously funded a three year initiative intended to: (1) encourage the creation of interprofessional education (IPE) activities defined as "occasions when two or more professions learn with, from and about each other to improve collaboration and quality of care" (Freeth, Hammick, Reeves, Koppel, & Barr, 2005, p. 11) and (2) demonstrate their benefits (Herbert, 2005; Romanow, 2002). A consortium of institutions and agencies from the province of Saskatchewan in western Canada was successful in receiving funds for its proposal, "Patient Centered Interprofessional Team Experiences" or "P-CITE." P-CITE promised among other targets 1200 interprofessional student experiences in interprofessional problem-based learning (iPBL). Classical problem-based learning (PBL) is a small group case-based cooperative learning exercise whereby students engage in solving a realistic problem for which by design they have not been entirely prepared (Barrows & Wee, 2007). Initially learners resolve as much of the case as they can by drawing on what they think they know and then between sessions research what might be helpful in addressing issues presented in the case which they were unable to manage. The target of 1200 was very ambitious because, at that time, the University of Saskatchewan health sciences programs followed more conventional curricula and were not using PBL prior to P-CITE. PBL programs are predominantly uniprofessional and mostly medical. The opportunity to engage in large scale iPBL also presented a teaching development challenge to create a whole new program in a short period of time and to train tutors in iPBL, an entirely novel application of PBL not only to Saskatchewan, but worldwide. In 2005, prior to the formation of P-CITE only one person (one of the authors, MD) had experience in training PBL tutors and no experience with iPBL. There were clearly insufficient resources to meet the task of providing teaching development for the promised iPBL (let alone all the other IPE needs across the entire province of Saskatchewan). Showing great foresight P-CITE therefore established and funded the Faculty Development Working Group (FDWG) to design and deliver a province-wide teaching development program to include tutor training for iPBL. The working group was composed of teachers from five different health professional programs (Dental Hygiene, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Physical Therapy) and both major provincial centres (Saskatoon and Regina) who possessed experience, leadership skills, and great dedication to interprofessional education supported by two part-time administrative coordinators. Although the scope of the FDWG was broader than just tutor training, only the iPBL-related teaching development is reported here. The Program Since iPBL projects were planned and many tutors were required the FDWG decided to dispense with a formal needs assessment in this case. We knew that iPBL tutor training was a top priority especially since there were few tutors already trained. The iPBL projects initially included only one module that addressed Aboriginal Health but grew with the addition of modules for HIV/ AIDS and Palliative Care. …