Inter-professional clinical placements as a recruitment strategy in geriatrics: survey of students' perceptions

Inter-professional (IP) education and clinical placements have been identified as educational recruitment strategies to address the health workforce shortage. The research question in this secondary analysis study was, "What are students' attitudes toward working in geriatric environments and as part of inter-professional collaborative teams?" A five-item survey was administered to 47 pre-licensure learners from five different health professional programs (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy and physical therapy). Findings suggest that students want to practise on IP teams, which may influence their graduate first choice of employment. Although stronger evidence is required, offering IP clinical placements may be an important recruitment strategy, especially for those sites traditionally deemed less desirable.