Examining Students’ Attitudes and Readiness for Interprofessional Education and Practice

Abstract

This study examined RN-to-BSN and Master of Social Work students’ attitudes and readiness for interprofessional (IP) practice and educational experiences. The Attitudes toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS) developed by Heinemann et al. measures attitudes toward health care teams including the quality of care/process and physician centrality. Students’ readiness for IP education was measured by the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) developed by Parsell and Bligh. Discussion of an interprofessional activity including student reactions is provided. Statistically significant differences were found in the mean scores for the Patient-Centeredness subscale of the RIPLS and in overall ATHCTS scores as well as the Physician Centrality subscale scores. Overall, participants demonstrated readiness and benefits of IP education.

Interprofessional Education and Collaboration in Healthcare: An Exploratory Study of the Perspectives of Medical Students in the United States

“…Consequently, the results may not be representative of the medical student population in the United States. Although the roles of IPC and IPE in the improvement of patient health outcomes and healthcare team environments have long been established, low sample sizes constitute a major limitation of many studies [29][30][31]. More effort by researchers is required in creating awareness of the importance of IPE and IPC among healthcare students and professionals, and utilizing innovative means of encouraging potential study participants to respond to study invitations.…”

Assessing dental hygiene students’ readiness for interprofessional learning and collaborative practice

“…Secondly, the uniqueness of our study design involved a pre‐post assessment of the impact of a newly integrated month‐long IPE curriculum. Commonly used methodological approaches have involved the assessment of students’ attitudes towards IPE either over 1 interdisciplinary activity or through collecting only baseline (pre‐attitudinal) information 6,9,12,14,21 . A recent exception was McGregor et al.’s 2018 study that used the SPICE instrument to assess attitudinal changes with dental hygiene, dental, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and pharmacy students before and after participating in a 1‐hour 13‐session IPE course at Virginia Commonwealth University 13 .…”

“…For the dental hygiene profession, the Canadian and United States accreditation bodies require dental hygiene programs to provide students with IPE experiences. The strongest influence on students’ attitudes towards IPE and collaborative practice behaviors appears to be their experiences in their entry‐to‐practice professional programs 6 …”

“…A common approach used in evaluating IPE experiences has been to examine students’ perceptions and attitudes towards IPE and collaborative practice, as attitudes are often predictors or determinants of behavior 9,12‐14 . Assessing students’ attitudes about IPE after 1 interprofessional activity or through collecting only pre‐attitudinal information (prior to an IPE activity) have been commonly used study designs to measure the effectiveness of IPE 6,9,12,14 . This research asserted that delivering IPE through a one‐time activity yielded limited meaningful interdisciplinary interaction.…”

“…This research asserted that delivering IPE through a one‐time activity yielded limited meaningful interdisciplinary interaction. These studies have, thus, recommended the need for implementing ongoing IPE experiences and additional research aimed at correlating attitudes about IPE with interprofessional collaboration behaviors 6,9,12,14 …”