Pre-entry perceptions of students entering five health professions: implications for interprofessional education and collaboration

A longitudinal, narrative study of professional socialisation among health students

“…With a purpose of contributing to growing evidence on the processes of professional identity construction, and to explore how early expectations and perceptions of IPC develop during professional socialisation and pre‐licensure education, our study examined the early professional socialisation experiences (from pre‐entry to end of first year of pre‐licensure education) among five groups of health professional students. This paper builds on previously published findings from pre‐entry interviews 5 by demonstrating how identity development occurs within the critical first year of early professional socialisation.…”

“…The research coordinator (RC), a doctoral fellow who represented a health profession outside of those included in the study, conducted interviews at pre‐entry, end of first term, and end of first year of study. Pre‐entry interviews focused on the influences on the participants’ career path—the people, places, events and experiences that shaped their decision to enter their respective fields 5 . The remaining interviews (focus of this paper) explored the early professional socialisation experiences of students in the first year of their study.…”

“…Professional socialisation is the process of forming a professional identity and knowing the essence of a professional role 3 . Emerging evidence suggests that the early socialisation of students in health professional programmes may have a positive impact on future interprofessional collaboration (IPC) 4,5 . Yet, there is a gap in our understanding of best practices in relation to IPE, including how early professional socialisation impacts perceptions, expectations and practices of collaboration across health professions.…”

“…Findings from their study found that first‐year health professional students’ participation in a year‐long IPE programme facilitated students’ understanding of communication/teamwork and identity formation as a collaborative team member 12 . Despite these many contributions to the field, there remains a gap in our understanding of when and how to incorporate IPE within health professional training 5,13 . Moreover, there has been recent criticism of the current IPE model widely adopted in educational institutions, and there have been calls for reform towards education that addresses workplace systems and structures more directly 13 .…”

Interprofessional education and collaborative practice research during the COVID-19 pandemic: Considerations to advance the field

“…However, teaching learners how to collaborate as future healthcare workers is arguably as important to quality care and improved patient, provider, and health system outcomes (Khalili & Orchard, 2020;Khalili et al, 2013). Interprofessional socialization is indispensable in helping learners feel that they belong, not just to their chosen profession, but rather to the broader interprofessional healthcare community (Price et al, 2019).…”