Measuring success: Delivering valuable research at Nexus Summit 2025

The Ohio State University Office of Interprofessional Practice and Education (OIPE) recently presented research highlights at the Nexus Summit 2025, an annual event focused on improving healthcare outcomes through interprofessional practice and education.  

This presentation, “Assessing Affective Learning Through Reflections on Interprofessional Clinical Experiences,” was the highly anticipated follow-up to the team’s initial research shared in 2024. This year, the team moved beyond curriculum design to provide evidence and results proving its effectiveness. 

The core of the work lies in a module integrated into The Ohio State University College of Medicine’s required clinical rotation. It uses the principles of Kolb’s experiential learning theory to make interprofessional education practical. Kolb’s theory emphasizes learning as a cyclical process where knowledge is created through the transformation of experience, involving concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. During this rotation, students work in interprofessional teams to deliver patient care and subsequently, reflect on their experiences through both written assignments and group discussions as part of that theory.  

The key innovation here is the assessment of learning. The research used the validated Griffith University Affective Learning Scale (GUALS) to analyze medical students' reflective writing. GUALS is a validated tool designed to measure changes in attitudes, values, and emotional responses resulting from educational experiences in interprofessional settings. 

In this case, affective learning (the changes in students' attitudes, values, and appreciation for collaboration) was quantified. This deep dive into student reflections provides tangible evidence that the clinical module is successfully achieving its goal: preparing future clinicians with the necessary collaborative competencies needed to deliver 21st century healthcare.  

Developing these competencies enables students to enhance patient outcomes and safety for better care. Collaborative teamwork improves provider efficiency, reduces errors, and cuts costs. The study shows that this module is a resource-efficient, accessible intervention with strong educational and clinical impact to become a model for national adoption. 

Research team members include: