Understanding Health Professionals' Experiences of Interprofessional Mentored Research During Clinical Training: A...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Practice
• Qualitative Research Methods

Background:

• Interprofessional education (IPE) is crucial for training future healthcare providers.
• There is limited research on student experiences with interprofessional mentored research during clinical training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the value of interprofessional mentored research experiences for healthcare students.
• To determine if this training enhanced key areas of interprofessional education.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative descriptive study utilizing one-on-one interviews.
• Eight healthcare providers (3 occupational therapists, 5 speech-language pathologists) participated.
• Data analyzed using qualitative content analysis with triangulation and member checking.

Main Results:

• Three primary themes emerged: interprofessional research collaboration, professional development, and recommendations for student-focused research.
• Participants found their student research experiences highly valuable for current practice.
• The experience provided significant training in understanding professional roles, responsibilities, teamwork, and communication.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional mentored research is a valuable component of clinical training.
• This experience significantly contributes to the development of essential interprofessional competencies.
• Findings offer insights for designing effective student-oriented interprofessional research collaborations.