Learning from Quitting: student engagement in an interprofessional student-led smoking cessation program enhances communication and collaboration.

Abstract

We developed an intervention to facilitate student learning through interprofessional education. Pharmacy students and psychiatry residents worked together in a student-led, real-world smoking cessation clinic. Too often, interprofessional education is delivered in classroom settings, sometimes using simulated patient scenarios with whom students interact as a team. There are few structured activities that involve caring for real patients. Our intention was that students would be more engaged in learning through a collaborative pedagogy that emphasized communication. We used a qualitative methodology to develop, analyze, and explain student learning. Data collection included self-reflections, drawings, and interviews. Our results showed that students and residents learned to help clients quit smoking, how to collaborate as members of interprofessional teams, and how to communicate effectively to and with diverse clients and other professionals. They felt engaged in their learning with each other, and engaged in their learning with the clients from the clinic. They thought that learning in a real world setting went beyond what they could have learned in a classroom setting or even a simulated experience.