BackgroundTo respond to increasingly complicated healthcare needs in primary care settings, all health and medical welfare professionals are required to collaborate with multiprofessionals, namely via “interprofessional work” (IPW). Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential for effective IPW, especially for medical students. This study aimed to determine whether participation in IPE can increase medical students’ readiness for interprofessional learning.MethodWe examined the difference in readiness of medical students for interprofessional learning before and after an IPE program that used team‐based learning (TBL). Each student was assigned to either a uniprofessional or multiprofessional group. They were evaluated using the Japanese version of the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Program participants were 126 second‐year medical students and 18 students of healthcare professions other than medical doctor who participated in a combined IPE program conducted by two universities. Medical students were allocated to 12 uniprofessional and nine multiprofessional groups at random.ResultsOne hundred and twelve medical students who replied to the questionnaire both before and after the program (valid response rate, 88.9%) were eligible for analysis. Of these, 42 were assigned to uniprofessional groups and 70 to multiprofessional groups. After the program, the RIPLS total score increased to a greater extent in the multiprofessional groups than in the uniprofessional groups (difference 3.17, 95% confidence interval 0.47‐5.88, P = .022). Multiple regression analysis showed the same result.ConclusionsLearning in multiprofessional groups increased medical students’ readiness for interprofessional learning in an IPE program using TBL.

Background Advance directives (ADs) are seldom discussed between primary care physicians (PCPs) and their patients, especially those with noncancer diseases. The aim was to identify the factors associated with discussing AD by noncancer patients with their physicians. Methods This cross‐sectional study was conducted in a hospital or clinic from October to December 2017. Physicians chose eligible noncancer patients aged 20 years or older to respond to an anonymous self‐completed questionnaire inquiring about the objective variable “I want to discuss AD with my doctor,” as well as basic characteristics, and facilitators and barriers to discussing AD identified in previous studies. The physicians responded to a survey comprising the Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) and inquiring about the disease category for each patient. Data were analyzed using binomial logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 270 patients (valid response rate, 79.6%) were included. Multivariate analysis identified a period of visit to the study site ≥ 3 years (odds ratio [OR], 2.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05‐4.10), physicians who are very good at taking care of patients’ disease (OR, 12.68; 95% CI, 1.12‐143.22), and patients’ worry about their quality of life (QOL) in the future (OR, 2.69; 95% CI, 1.30‐5.57) as facilitators for discussing AD with physicians, and PPS ≤ 90 (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.26‐0.98) as a barrier. Conclusions Our study indicates that patients’ future QOL concerns, a long period of visit to a hospital, and the presence of physical symptoms were associated with the willingness of noncancer patients to discuss AD with PCPs.

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