An interprofessional objective structured teaching experience (iOSTE): An interprofessional preceptor professional development activity

There has been a recent shift to develop and implement interprofessional education for learners during their “clinical” years. With this shift comes a specific need to develop preceptors in the area of interprofessional precepting. The interprofessional objective structured teaching experience (iOSTE) is one method for developing preceptors. The iOSTE was developed from experience with an interprofessional teaching clinic. Full and short versions of the iOSTE were implemented across multiple universities. The iOSTE gives preceptors an opportunity to gain experience with key skills associated with precepting interprofessional learners in clinical settings. Participants evaluated the iOSTE after the session using Likert scale ratings and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics, independent samples T-tests, and content analysis were used to analyse the data. A total of 96 individuals from 15 different professions and three different universities participated in the iOSTE, with 59.4% (n = 57) completing the iOSTE evaluation. The iOSTE was highly rated with significant differences between the full and short versions of the iOSTE for three evaluation items. Content analysis revealed common themes that preceptors took away from the experience were of “all voices included” and “interprofessional precepting skills”. Overall, the iOSTE appears to a feasible and effective method for developing interprofessional preceptors.