Five years on: Influences on early career health professionals from a rural interprofessional pre‐registration immersion program

Abstract

Objective To ascertain former students' perceptions of and influences from a final‐year pre‐registration, rurally located, clinically based, 5 week interprofessional program on their subsequent work and career in the health professions. Design Online survey delivered 5 years post‐program (4 years post‐graduation). Setting The Tairāwhiti interprofessional education program was first undertaken in 2012/2013 by students from six health professional degree programs (dentistry, dietetics, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy) in the Tairāwhiti region, New Zealand. Participants Health professionals who attended the Tairāwhiti interprofessional education program in 2012/2013 as students were invited to participate; 70 of 86 (81%) responded in 2017/2018. Results Five years on, most respondents (91%;64/70) were working as health professionals, with a fifth (23%;15/64) working overseas. Of those currently practising in New Zealand, 51% (24/47) were working in hospital practice and 49% (23/47) in the community, with 56% (27/48) working in metropolitan areas and 44% (21/48) in regional/rural locations. Of the 51 respondents who provided free‐text comments about perceived influences of program participation, the majority described positive influences on their clinical practice as health professionals or their subsequent career choices. Five themes emerged from the free‐text data: ‘made me a better clinician’; ‘made me consider rural/regional work’; ‘collaborating for care’; ‘choosing an area of practice to work in,’ and ‘little or no impact.’ Conclusion This work reports positive influences on subsequent careers among respondents who had previously participated as final‐year students in a rurally located IPE program, particularly with respect to interprofessional working, rural health, and contextual and cultural influences.

Longitudinal impact of preregistration interprofessional education on the attitudes and skills of health professionals during their early careers: a non-randomised trial with 4-year outcomes

“…TIPE students had more positive attitudes to healthcare teams at baseline, but these were controlled for in analytic models. Consistent with other TIPE evaluations, those who attended the TIPE programme reported valuing the experience highly; this may have made them more positive about the impact of the experience on their subsequent careers 23 39…”

“…There is a paucity of studies exploring the effects of pregraduation IPE learning activities during health professionals’ early careers. Postgraduate recollections of preregistration IPE experiences and perceived impacts of IPE on teamwork abilities have been reported previously 39 41 42. Hylin et al found that graduates, who had spent 2 weeks in an interprofessional training ward, had lasting positive and negative impressions of this course and they considered that they promoted teamwork in the workplace 18 months postgraduation 42.…”

“…Postgraduate recollections of preregistration IPE experiences and perceived impacts of IPE on teamwork abilities have been reported previously. 39 41 42 Hylin et al found that graduates, who had spent 2 weeks in an interprofessional training ward, had lasting positive and negative impressions of this course and they considered that they promoted teamwork in the workplace 18 months postgraduation. 42 Graybill et al found that the former students recalled IPE experiences after they had completed their training and they were in the workplace.…”

The allied health workforce of rural Aotearoa New Zealand: a scoping review

“…The geographic workforce distribution was also recognised within other work. Both Gleissner 21 (in the context of Speech-Language Therapy) and Pullon et al 27 suggested that geographic workforce distribution was a key contributor to obvious health needs not being met within rural areas. Reid and Dixon 24 quantified this for physiotherapists, where 81% worked in urban areas, citing challenges in the ability to recruit to rural areas.…”

“…Reid and Dixon 24 quantified this for physiotherapists, where 81% worked in urban areas, citing challenges in the ability to recruit to rural areas. However, Pullon et al 27 suggested that even with a workforce willing and able to practice in rural areas, there is a perceived lack of opportunity for career diversity or progression.…”