The Relationship Between Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Experience and Interprofessional Attitudes in...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Healthcare
• Medical Education Research

Background:

• Interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) is crucial for effective healthcare delivery.
• Interprofessional education (IPE) in clinical settings aims to foster IPCP skills.
• Understanding student attitudes towards IPCP is vital for curriculum development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between students' past IPCP experiences and their interprofessional attitudes.
• To determine if interprofessional attitudes differ among various healthcare professions.
• To analyze the impact of IPCP experience on interprofessional attitudes across professions.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative study involving 170 healthcare students (medicine, physical therapy, social work, nursing, pharmacy).
• Pearson correlation used to assess the relationship between IPCP experience and Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS) scores.
• Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) employed to compare IPAS scores across professions, controlling for IPCP experience.

Main Results:

• A positive correlation between IPCP experience and IPAS scores was found for medical and pharmacy students only.
• Medical students exhibited lower interprofessional attitudes compared to other participating professions.
• Even after controlling for IPCP experience, medical students' total IPAS scores and teamwork subdomain scores differed significantly from other professions.

Conclusions:

• The extent of interprofessional collaborative practice experience may influence interprofessional attitudes in health professional students.
• Strategic curriculum design incorporating more IPCP experiences is recommended to cultivate interprofessional behaviors.
• Addressing lower interprofessional attitudes among medical students is essential for promoting collaborative healthcare.