No abstract

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate attitudes toward interprofessional learning among first year medical, nursing, and physician associate students at an American university at the start of their training. MethodsFirst year medical (n=101), nursing (n=81), and physician associate (n=35) students were invited to complete an anonymous online survey which included items related to demographic information and the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale. Scores were compared by the general linear model and Duncan’s multiple range test while controlling for demographic differences.  ResultsAll three groups scored in the high range, indicating readiness for shared learning. Female students, those with advanced degrees, and those with healthcare experience prior to enrolment in health professional school had significantly higher scores than their counterparts. After controlling for differences in demographic factors, nursing students scored significantly higher than physician associate and medical students (F (2,162) = 6.22, 0.0025).  ConclusionsHealth professions students demonstrated readiness for interprofessional learning early in their academic programs, however important differences in baseline readiness emerged. These findings suggest that educators consider baseline attitudes of students when designing interprofessional education curricula, and use caution when extrapolating data from other geographies or cultures.

Background: Shared learning among health professional students has the potential to improve collaboration and reduce medical errors resulting in improved patient outcomes. While organizational difficulties pose significant challenges to implementing interprofessional learning, negative student attitudes may pose the greatest barrier to change. Thus, the aim of this qualitative study was to determine perceptions of first year health students (medical, nursing, and physician associate) toward interprofessional learning. Methods and findings: Content analysis was used to identify the repetitive themes regarding the facilitators and barriers to interprofessional education (IPE). Krippendorff's method was used to analyze comments written in an open-ended survey completed by first year medical (48/101 or 48%), nursing (59/81 or 73%) and physician associate (19/35 or 54%) students representing a response rate of 58% from one university in New England. Conclusions: Five interrelated themes emerged: Barriers included: History as prologue and Misunderstanding of "others", versus Resistance to "others". Facilitators included: Personal characteristics, Professional characteristics and Educational characteristics. Unique to medical students is Self-conscious emotions, while Optimism is unique to nursing students. While students may be ready to transform our educational systems, attention must be focused on the learning environment and complex factors that will facilitate this transformation.

Interprofessional education (IPE) has the potential to improve communication, collaboration and coordination of care, leading to improved health care outcomes. Promoting IPE has become an aim for many professional schools. However, there are challenges to implementing meaningful curricula that involve multiple health care professional schools. In this study, we outline 12 lessons learned when designing and implementing an Interprofessional Longitudinal Clinical Experience (ILCE) for 247 students from a School of Nursing, Medicine and Physician Associate Program in New England. Lessons learned over 4 years include pilot, evaluate and refine projects; create a formal interprofessional organizational structure; involve faculty who are passionate ambassadors for IPE; procure and maintain financial support; recognize power struggles and bias; overcome logistical conundrums to realize common goals, secure clinical sites and prepare IPE coaches; expect there will always be another hurdle; do not go it alone; recruit experts; recognize role differentiation and similarities; be aware of fragility of students and faculty and collect data to assess, evaluate, improve and gain buy-in. We were able to successfully implement a large program for students from three different health care professional schools that takes place in the clinical setting with faculty coaches, patients and their families. We hope that the lessons learned can be instructive to those considering a similar effort.

Strong and effective clinical teamwork has been shown to improve medical outcomes and reduce medical errors 1 . Incorporating didactic and clinical activities into undergraduate medical education in which students work in teams will develop skills to prepare them to work in clinical teams as they advance through their education and careers. At the Yale School of Medicine, we foster the development of team skills in the classroom through team‐based learning (TBL) and in clinical settings with the Interprofessional Longitudinal Clinical Experience (ILCE). Both TBL and ILCE require students work in close physical proximity. The COVID‐19 pandemic forced us to immediately adapt our in‐person activities to an online format and then develop clinical and interprofessional experiences that adhere to social distancing guidelines. Here we describe our approaches to solving these problems and the experiences of our students and faculty.