Impact of the Interprofessional Leadership in Healthcare Certificate on health professionals’ collaboration and leadership abilities

Introduction

Leadership training is critical in preparing leaders of interprofessional teams to effectively coordinate teams and services to deliver high-quality, collaborative health care. This study aimed to determine the impact of the Interprofessional Leadership in Healthcare Certificate program on participants’ knowledge, skills, and workplace practices.

Methods

Thirty practicing health professionals participated in the five-month, online certificate program. At the end of the program, participants completed the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Survey (ICCAS) and a leadership competency self-evaluation, both retrospective pre-/post-tests. At six months following the certificate, participants completed the same instruments together with a set of three open-response questions.

Results

Nineteen participants completed both the survey at the end of the certificate and the 6-month follow-up survey. There was a significant increase in mean ICCAS and Leadership Competency Self-Evaluation scores from before to after and six-months following the certificate. Five themes were found in the qualitative data: (1) enhanced listening and communication skills; (2) a better understanding of team members’ roles; (3) increased collaboration; and (4) improved leadership skills.

Conclusion

The certificate program had a positive impact on participants’ knowledge, skills, and workplace practices relating to interprofessional collaboration and leadership. This may be attributable to intentional interprofessional collaboration in both program development and learning experiences, and the use of the Project ECHO® model.