'It Takes a Village to Raise a Resident': Lessons Learned on Interprofessional Socialization and Collaborative...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Medical Education
• Interprofessional Practice

Background:

• Interprofessional education for collaborative practice (IPECP) is crucial for developing healthcare teams.
• Contemporary healthcare settings present challenges to effective collaboration.
• Understanding new medical professionals' socialization is key to improving collaborative practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the professional socialization of recent medical graduates during early residency/practice.
• To understand how undergraduate IPECP influences interprofessional identity and collaborative readiness.
• To identify factors enabling and challenging interprofessional identity development.

Main Methods:

• Utilized interpretive, narrative methodology.
• Conducted interviews with recent medical graduates (n=8) from a longitudinal IPECP study.
• Explored personal, social, and systemic factors influencing interprofessional identity.

Main Results:

• Interprofessional identity develops through exposure to collaborative settings and mentorship.
• Healthcare culture, professional hierarchies, and stereotypes can impede meaningful collaboration.
• Attitudes of practicing professionals reinforce profession-specific identities over interprofessional ones.

Conclusions:

• IPECP should address and deconstruct professional hierarchies and stereotypes.
• Real collaborative experiences are essential for preparing medical professionals for interprofessional teams.
• Findings support enhanced IPECP programming to overcome collaboration barriers and promote interprofessional identity.