Cohort assessment of medical and pharmacy student interprofessional attitudes at an academic medical centre from baseline to programme completion

Abstract

Background: Interprofessional interactions between pharmacy and medical students have been emphasised by accreditation standards. This study aimed to document medical and pharmacy student cohorts’ baseline and longitudinal interprofessional attitudes across four years of pre-licensure education. Methods: Student cohorts shared two structured interprofessional learning experiences within the first two years, then unstructured/variable learning experiences during the final two years. The 27-item Interprofessional Attitudes Scale comprising five subscales was administered upon programme entry, then towards the end of each programme year. Results: Baseline response rates were 73.5% and 90% for 136 medicine and 57 pharmacy students, respectively; pharmacy student responses were significantly higher for teamwork, roles, and responsibilities and significantly lower for interprofessional biases subscales. Longitudinal medical and pharmacy student responses only showed a significant increase in interprofessional biases, while medical student responses showed significant decreases in teamwork, roles, responsibilities, and community-centredness. Conclusion: Compared to pharmacy students, baseline responses from medical students confirm significantly lower scores for teamwork, roles, and responsibilities on programme entry, which may further decrease by the end of the first pre-clinical year. Though significant subscale changes mirrored the completion of structured pre-clinical interprofessional curricula and/or clinical education for both student cohorts, further research is needed secondary to study limitations.