Views and Attitudes of Pharmacy and Medical/Dental Students Towards Inter-Professional Education and Collaboration in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Inter-professional collaboration (IPC) is necessary for the provision of patient care. Poor IPC has a negative impact on the delivery of healthcare services and patient care. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to assess and evaluate the knowledge and attitude of final years’ medical students toward IPC. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was designed, pre-piloted, and distributed to final years’ pharmacy and medical/dental students at the University of Sharjah and Ajman University of Science and Technology (UAE). RESULTS: A total of 212 (70.7%) surveys were received out of 300 (target); 3 of them were excluded due to incomplete data (209). The majority of the respondents were females (155; 75.2%), Arabs (156; 75.7%), medical and dental students (129; 61.7%), senior students (104; 51.5%), and were living with their families (133; 63.6%). More than half of the participants were between 21-23 years old (158; 76%) and were self-sponsored (155; 74.9%). Among the 209 students, 80 (38.3%) of them were pharmacy students, and the rest were medical and dental students (129; 61.7%). In general, students’ attitudes towards inter-professional collaboration seem to be positive. The majority of students in both groups agreed that they share common goals and objectives when caring for the patient, their roles are complementary to one another, and an introductory IP experience would have a positive impact on their understanding of collaboration and teamwork. Again, there was a general agreement among all students about the present barriers to effective inter-professional education and collaboration. CONCLUSION: We conclude that some professional classes need to be common among the different colleges. In addition, a workshop or series of workshops should be implemented for pharmacy, medical, dental, and nursing students as a sort of practical circular extracurricular activity or can be projected as a theatrical play.