Background: Virtual interprofessional education (VIPE) presents an opportunity to develop interprofessional competencies in undergraduate medical students. This paper describes the feasibility of implementing VIPE in an undergraduate medical program. Methods: A multiple-methods research design incorporating quantitative and qualitative elements was used to describe undergraduate medical students’ experiences of an international VIPE intervention. Eleven universities and students in 14 different health professions participated in synchronous and asynchronous sessions. A number of 41 medical students completed an online post-assessment survey, of which six volunteered to participate in a focus group discussion related to their VIPE experience. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the post-assessment survey, while inductive thematic analysis was applied for qualitative data. Results: The quantitative responses indicated an awareness of interprofessional education (IPE) competencies, such as role clarification, team functioning, interprofessional communication, person-centeredness and values and ethics. The focus group discussions supported the quantitative outcomes where the themes reflected the significance and influence of the educational program, clarifying engagement and recommendations for the future of VIPE. Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate the feasibility and value of VIPE as a reasonable alternative to face-to-face IPE. VIPE may have additional benefits such as cross-institutional and international engagement. This evaluation also provided valuable lessons for the more widespread implementation of VIPE.

1. Health BOG. Measuring the Impact of Interprofessional Education on Collaborative Practice and Patient Outcomes. National Academies Press; 2015.

2. Reeves S, Pelone F, Harrison R, Goldman J, Zwarenstein M. Interprofessional collaboration to improve professional practice and healthcare outcomes. Cochrane Db Syst Rev. 2017;6(6):CD000072.    DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000072.pub3    PMID: 28639262

3. Grace S. Models of interprofessional education for healthcare students: a scoping review. J Interprof Care. 2021;35(5):771–783.    DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2020.1767045    PMID: 32614628

4. Grymonpre RE. Faculty development in interprofessional education (IPE): reflections from an IPE coordinator. J Taibah Univ Med Sci. 2016;11(6):510–519.

5. Girard MA. Interprofessional education and collaborative practice policies and law: an international review and reflective questions. Hum Resour Health. 2021;19(1):9.    DOI: 10.1186/s12960-020-00549-w    PMID: 33413464

6. World Health Organization (WHO). Framework for action on interprofessional education and collaborative practice. WHO; 2010.

7. McNaughton S. The long-term impact of undergraduate interprofessional education on graduate interprofessional practice: a scoping review. J Interprof Care. 2018;32(4):426–435.    DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2017.1417239    PMID: 29271675

8. Khalili H. Online interprofessional education during and post the COVID-19 pandemic: a commentary. J Interprof Care. 2020;34(5):687–690.    DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2020.1792424    PMID: 32674721

9. Evans S, Ward C, Shaw N, Walker A, Knight T, Sutherland-Smith W. Interprofessional education and practice guide No. 10: developing, supporting and sustaining a team of facilitators in online interprofessional education. J Interprof Care. 2020;34(1):4–10.    DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1632817    PMID: 31366252

10. Luke R, Solomon P, Baptiste S, et al. Online interprofessional health sciences education: from theory to practice. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2009;29(3):161–167.    DOI: 10.1002/chp.20030    PMID: 19728380

11. Kendall-Gallagher D, Reeves S, Alexanian JA, Kitto S. A nursing perspective of interprofessional work in critical care: findings from a secondary analysis. J Crit Care. 2017;38:20–26.    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2016.10.007    PMID: 27835799

12. Mogre V, Scherpbier A, Dornan T, Stevens F, Aryee PA, Cherry MG. A realist review of educational interventions to improve the delivery of nutrition care by doctors and future doctors. Syst Rev. 2014;3:148.    DOI: 10.1186/2046-4053-3-148    PMID: 25528058

13. Ten Cate O, Billett S. Competency-based medical education: origins, perspectives and potentialities. Med Educ. 2014;48(3):325–332.    DOI: 10.1111/medu.12355    PMID: 24528467

14. Janse van Rensburg ES. Effective online teaching and learning practices for undergraduate health sciences students: an integrative review. Int J Afr Nurs Sci. 2018;9:73–80.

15. Panda DS, Gamal M, Zafar A, et al. A study on the effectiveness of online teaching in pharmacy education from teacher and student perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharm Educ. 2020;20(2):297–301.    DOI: 10.46542/PE.2020.202.297301

16. The IPE Online Team. Virtual interprofessional education (VIPE) information and introduction. Stockton University. Accessed September 9, 2021. https://stockton.edu/health-sciences/afrivipe.html

17. Harden RM. Curriculum planning and development. In: Dent JA, Harden RM, eds. A Practical Guide for Medical Teachers. 4^th ed. Churchill Livingstone; 2013: 8–15.

18. Saldaña J. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. 3^rd ed. Sage; 2016.

19. Thabane L, Ma J, Chu R, et al. A tutorial on pilot studies: the what, why and how. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2010;10:1.    DOI: 10.1186/1471-2288-10-1    PMID: 20053272

20. Raynault A, Lebel P, Brault I, Vanier MC, Flora L. How interprofessional teams of students mobilized collaborative practice competencies and the patient partnership approach in a hybrid IPE course. J Interprof Care. 2021;35(4):574–585.    DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2020.1783217    PMID: 32674631

21. Gillespie GL, Farra SL, Gates DM. A workplace violence educational program: a repeated measures study. Nurse Educ Pract. 2014;14(5):468–472.    DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2014.04.003    PMID: 24932754

22. Foulger T, Graziano KJ, Schmidt-Crawford DA, Slykhuis DA. Teacher educator technology competencies. J Technol Teach Educ. 2017;25(4):413–448.

23. Mazor M, Fleming SM. The dunning-kruger effect revisited. Nat Hum Behav. 2021;5(6):677–678.    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01101-z    PMID: 33833426