Faculty attitudes about interprofessional education

Interprofessional education (IPE) is an important component to training health care professionals. Research is limited in exploring the attitudes that faculty hold regarding IPE and what barriers they perceive to participating in IPE. The purpose of this study was to identify faculty attitudes about IPE and to identify barriers to participating in campus-wide IPE activities.

A locally used questionnaire called the Nebraska Interprofessional Education Attitudes Scale (NIPEAS) was used to assess attitudes related to interprofessional collaboration. Questions regarding perceived barriers were included at the end of the questionnaire. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics were used to analyze the results in aggregate as well as by college. In addition, open-ended questions were analyzed using an immersion/crystallization framework to identify themes.

The results showed that faculty had positive attitudes of IPE, indicating that is not a barrier to participating in IPE activities. Most common barriers to participation were scheduling conflicts (x²_4,285=19.17, p=0.001), lack of department support (x²_4,285=10.09, p=0.039), and lack of awareness of events (x²_4,285=26.38, p=0.000). Narrative comments corroborated that scheduling conflicts are an issue because of other priorities. Those who commented also added to the list of barriers, including relevance of the activities, location, and prior negative experiences.

With faculty attitudes being positive, the exploration of faculty's perceived barriers to IPE was considered even more important. Identifying these barriers will allow us to modify our IPE activities from large, campus-wide events to smaller activities that are longitudinal in nature, embedded within current curriculum and involving more authentic experiences.