Recognizing that in 2020 we would have a new Health Science Education Center (HSEC), we knew this was an opportunity to study the effects of the building on the informal interactions that students have with each other. The 7-story building has state-of-the-art classrooms, a simulation center, an interprofessional lounge, and an interprofessional study area for all schools to use rather than learning and gathering in highly distributed and siloed sites.
Our primary questions were whether the HSEC building changes the nature of the interactions among health profession students. We invited students from multiple professions to complete a survey in the spring of 2019, the year before the opening of the building, and then we also sent surveys to second-year students from those same professions in the spring of 2022, 2023, and 2024. The HSEC opened in June 2020 however it was largely not used in the 2020 – 2021 academic year.
As was hypothesized we saw statistically significant increases in informal interactions such as seeking out students from other professions when experiencing loneliness, anxiety, or stress and when they need school-related advice. They also had a higher frequency of conversations with students from other professions.
We also know from focus groups done of students using the lounge and study space that 91% felt the space was welcoming (except for there were not enough chairs). Of those who participated in programming in these spaces (e.g., wellness, student groups), the majority (64%) stated they appreciated the opportunity to connect with health profession students from outside of their program.
The unique opportunity afforded us by having a new interprofessional education center allowed us to study the impact of space on informal interactions. We know that these informal interactions help students form relationships with other professions and aids in the development of their dual identity not only as a member of their profession but also as a member of an interprofessional team. Barriers and siloes begin to fall when people from one profession learn to understand those in other professions as people and not just as a named profession, which come with their own biases and stereotypes. Therefore, the building becomes part of the unspoken, hidden curriculum in our interprofessional education program.
In this talk, we will present these findings and then hope to foster discussion about how the hidden curriculum embedded in an interprofessional learning space can be fostered and further studied.
