Interprofessional perceptions of health care students

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Social Psychology in Healthcare

Background:

• Effective interprofessional working is crucial for high-quality healthcare.
• Student attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration are not well understood.
• Understanding these attitudes is key to fostering effective future healthcare teams.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore undergraduate health care students' attitudes towards their own and other professional groups.
• To investigate the relationships between stereotypes, professional identity, and readiness for interprofessional learning.
• To inform the development of early interprofessional education strategies.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire survey was administered to 933 undergraduate health care students.
• Participants were from medicine, nursing, dietetics, pharmacy, and physiotherapy programs.
• Statistical correlations were used to analyze relationships between variables.

Main Results:

• Positive correlations were found between stereotypes, professional identity, and readiness for interprofessional learning.
• Students demonstrated strong identification with their own professional group.
• A positive association was observed between heterostereotype and professional identity.

Conclusions:

• Students possess positive attitudes towards interprofessional learning and collaboration.
• Early interprofessional education can capitalize on these positive attitudes.
• Interventions should be implemented early in professional preparation programs.