Student attitudes to undergraduate interprofessional education

Abstract

Interprofessional education in health care has been the focus of increasing attention in recent years. However, there is still great debate about when and how to introduce it in undergraduate studies. St George's Hospital Medical School with the Joint Faculty of Health Care Sciences of Kingston University was ideally placed to introduce, as part of its 1996 new curriculum, a Common Foundation Programme (CFP). This incorporated degree students in medicine, radiography, physiotherapy, and nursing learning together for the first term of their courses. As part of the evaluation of the CFP, students' attitudes to the course and each other were surveyed at the beginning and the end of the term, for the 1998 and 1999 intakes. The results showed that students arrive at university with stereotyped views of each other, and that these views appeared to become more exaggerated during the CFP. Students felt that the CFP would enhance interprofessional working, but there were concerns that it forced them to learn irrelevant skills. Students whose parents worked as health care professionals, held stronger stereotyped views. Our findings challenge any notion that students arrive without preconceived ideas about the other professions. Further work is needed to determine how best to break down stereotypes, and to advance our understanding of the most appropriate models for interprofessional education, to enable graduates to work effectively in today's environment.

Interprofessional learning: Perceptions of first year health students

“…[40] Likewise, Tucker et al found that some students fear they do not have sufficient knowledge or competency to participate in shared learning. [41] Comparable to other findings, [18] the medical students in our study were younger (mean age 23.9) than nursing and physician associate students which may account for their feelings of awkwardness or embarrassment.…”

“…[26] It has been suggested that negative perceptions of health professional students to their own and other professions may impact negatively on future work behaviors. [15] Research supports some health care students enter their educational programs with diverse attitudes and stereotypic views related to personal and professional culture and communication [15,18] and strongly identify with their own profession early on in their education. [19] These attitudes toward others may impact student's readiness toward shared team collaboration.…”

“…[15] Since students may enter universities with preconceived stereotypes of other professions, some argue that assessment of attitudes should be part of the medical school admission process. [15] O'Keefe suggests one's attitudes are an important predictor of behavioral intent [17] and still questionable is whether stereotypes are so fixed that efforts toward IPE are unattainable [18] impacting future interprofessional collaborative practice. [19] Through serial questionnaire, Coster, et al found that attitudes and readiness for IPE among undergraduate health students were high on program entry but markedly declined over time with the exception of nursing students, supporting early implementation of IPE.…”

The merit of mandatory interprofessional education for pre-health professionalstudents

“…According to Tunstall-Pedoe et al (2003) and Cooper et al (2005), students begin internalizing professional values upon matriculation, which may contribute to the various barriers experienced when practicing or learning within an interprofessional setting. Indeed, Rudland & Mires (2005) showed that first year medical students held negative stereotypes of their nursing colleagues even in the first week of classes.…”

Inter-professional Education in the Acute-Care Setting: The Clinical Instructor's Point of View

“…1 Research has also demonstrated that students embrace opportunities for IPE and reap benefits in the realms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. 7,[11][12][13][14][15][16] Knowledge of a student's chosen profession has been shown to be strengthened by working with students of other professions as they explain, compare, and contrast their clinical skills. 12,17 Students have also been shown to benefit from collaborative patient care, which fosters the development of their professional roles 12,13 and bridges the gap between student and practising health care professional.…”