Methods: In our IPE model, art education students developed an art-mediated curriculum for nursing students consisting of three 1 ½ hour sessions that took place at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). Our presentation describes an innovative mixed methods IPE research initiative where clinical faculty accompanied nursing students to the VMFA and, in conjunction with the art educators, supported iterative cycles of observation and cross-communication in a small group format. Our qualitative outcomes were derived from “just in time” student reflections that centered on nursing student skill development in the areas of perception, communication, and reflection. We also employed a quantitative tool, the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), at Time 1 (baseline) and Time 2 (post- museum-based intervention) to determine how students’ “thinking about one’s thinking” informs clinical reasoning.
Results: A total of 218 nursing students (162 accelerated, 56 traditional) participated in baseline and post intervention measures. Statistically significant increases were observed on all eight attributes of the MAI; declarative knowledge (p<.0001), procedural knowledge (p<.0005), conditional knowledge (p<.0001), planning (p<.0001), information management strategies (p<.0001), comprehensive monitoring (p<.0001), debugging strategies (p<.0155) and evaluation (p<.0001). Using a Bonferroni adjusted a of 0.05/8 = 0.00625, significant differences between traditional versus accelerated program outcomes were found in seven of eight components of the MAI. Of these variables the only one that was not significant was debugging (p = NS). Although significant increases were observed for (declarative (p<.0021); planning (p<.0078); and comprehension monitoring (p<.0010), the difference pre to post were of different magnitudes between the programs, characterizing a large change in the traditional program. The only exception was respectively comprehensive monitoring in which only the traditional program observed significant changes. Qualitative analysis of student reflections aligns with changes over time found on the MAI in both programs.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that (1) nursing students' clinical reasoning skills benefit from the IPE museum-based experience in all subcomponents of the MAI and (2) that cultivating nursing students’ enhanced awareness of contextual details, precise and thoughtful communication, and collaborative clinical reasoning skills has promise to manifest improved practice in multiple domains. These findings informed quality improvement of the program as well as design and development of upcoming longitudinal research.