The Impact of an Intervention on the Medical, Dental and Health Sciences Students About Interprofessional Education and Collaboration; A Quasi-experimental Study

Abstract

BackgroundInterprofessional education and collaboration (IPEC) fosters patient safety and encompasses integration, communication, mutual trust and shared decision-making. Despite its crucial role, the IPEC has not gained its anticipated popularity. This study aims to determine the impact of an educational intervention about IPEC on medical, dental and health sciences students in the University of Sharjah. MethodsThis quasi-experimental research was conducted in three phases; a pre-intervention phase where the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) inventory was administered online to the medical, dental and health sciences students of the University of Sharjah; an intervention phase where an online workshop was organized via Microsoft Teams®; and a post-intervention phase where RIPLS was used to gather the students’ attitudes towards IPEC. The independent t test was used to compare the responses between genders and junior and senior students. A paired sample t test was used to determine the impact of the intervention on the students’ understandings. ResultsOut of 800 students invited to participate in this study, 530 students responded to the pre-intervention RIPLS survey. A comparison of the pre-post intervention for the RIPLS subscales of teamwork and collaboration, professional identification, and professional roles showed a significant improvement of the students’ attitudes with p-values 0.03, 0.00 and 0.00, respectively. All workshop moderators scored a median of 4 or 5 to the essential elements of IPEC during intervention except for a median of 3 for group dynamics.ConclusionIn this study, the present data derived from the application of a brief educational intervention highlight the challenges of IPEC implementation in the medical field. However, the demonstrated student readiness and positive impact of the intervention support the development of a structured curriculum to enhance the receptiveness and application of IPEC in clinical training and practice.

The Framework of Leadership in Academic Medicine (FLAM); a mixed-methods study to develop leadership skills and competence

“…There is a wide range of leadership styles that leaders adopt to run their organizations and institutions such as democratic, authoritative, resonant, bureaucratic, coercive, transactional, and transformational (22,23). Such leadership styles in medicine essentially demand knowledge and application of interprofessional practice (24), medical professionalism (17), industry knowledge, effective communication, psychological engagement, and budgeting (25). In our study, most leaders preferred the a liative leadership style, which creates harmony and builds bonds among teams.…”

Action research to foster knowledge and understanding of medical and health sciences students about patient safety in a climate of interprofessional education

“…Likewise, in the gulf region including United Arab Emirates (UAE), there is a lack of coherent and collective efforts which can help medical educators fully understand and encourage healthcare students to learn and work in IPE environment. Recently, some IPE-driven workshops have been conducted as educational interventions to facilitate IPE collaboration among healthcare students, reporting a remarkably positive impact on healthcare students' knowledge and attitudes [13]. However, there remains a need to understand the role of educational interventions in determining their effectiveness for improving patient safety outcomes in the medical eld.…”