Novel partnerships for interprofessional education: A pilot education program in 3D technologies for human centered computing students and physical therapy students

The role of emerging technologies in the rehabilitative care of patients continues to grow. In order to effectively provide care in a complex medical system, rehabilitative specialists need to be fluent in how technology can enhance the delivery of patient care. In concert, technology experts need to understand how patients are affected by their technological designs. Currently, there is an absence of data to evaluate the impact of combining these two professional groups (physical therapy and human centered computing) to serve the needs of rehabilitative patients. The purpose of this project was to enhance the ability for both rehabilitative professionals and human centered computing specialists to address the healthcare needs of individuals requiring adaptive equipment. An interprofessional educational series was developed to integrate the knowledge and skills of Doctor of Physical Therapy students with students from a human centered computing program to develop adaptive equipment personalized to individual patients using 3D printing. The pilot program was evaluated using survey data and interviews collected from both student and patient perspectives. This paper contributes to the understanding of challenges to unique interprofessional collaborations and provides suggestions to foster more effective educational training for both disciplines. Strategies for improving the development of patient-centered 3D printed adaptive equipment as well as the practical application of using 3D printed assistive technology (AT) in the delivery of client care are discussed.