Who Is Teaching Residents in the Intensive Care Unit? Perceptions of Interprofessional Teaching at an Academic Medical Center

BACKGROUND: Teamwork is essential for high-quality care in the intensive care unit (ICU). Interprofessional education has been widely endorsed as a way of promoting collaborative practice. Interprofessional providers (IPPs), including nurses, pharmacists, and respiratory therapists (RTs), routinely participate in multidisciplinary rounds in the ICU, but their role in teaching residents at academic medical centers has yet to be characterized. OBJECTIVE: To characterize perceptions of interprofessional teaching during and outside of rounds in the ICU. METHODS: The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey of critical care physicians, internal medicine residents, nurses, pharmacists, and RTs across three ICUs at a tertiary academic medical center from September 2019 to March 2020. The frequency of different types of rounds contributions was rated on a Likert scale. Means and medians were compared across groups. RESULTS: A total of 221 of 285 participants completed the survey (78% response rate). All IPPs described that they report data, provide clinical observations, and make recommendations frequently during ICU rounds, but teaching occurred infrequently (mean values, nurses = 2.9; pharmacists = 3.5; RTs = 3.7; 1 = not at all; 5 = always). Nurses were least likely to report teaching (P = 0.0017). From residents’ and attendings’ perspectives, pharmacists taught most frequently (mean values, 3.7 and 3.4, respectively). RTs self-report of teaching was higher than physicians’ reports of RT teaching (P < 0.0001). Outside of rounds, residents reported a low frequency of teaching by nurses and RTs (means, nurses = 3.1; RTs = 3.1), but they reported a high rate of teaching by pharmacists (mean, 4.4). CONCLUSION: Nonphysician IPPs routinely participate in ICU rounds but teach medical trainees infrequently. Physicians’ perception of IPP teaching frequency was generally lower than self-reports by IPPs. Exploring modifiers of interprofessional teaching may enhance education and collaboration.