Interprofessional Education Initiatives Research Articles

Educating Children in Our Care

In Canada, there is increasing recognition that poor educational outcomes of children and adolescents involved with the child welfare system represent an emerging crisis for youth, their families, and the broader society. Interprofessional education and collaboration between educators and social workers may facilitate better outcomes for children in care. Although interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaboration (IPC) are well established in the allied health fields, there is not an equivalent acceptance within the applied social sciences, specifically in education and child welfare contexts. This may partially be attributed to the “siloed” nature of these professions, which limits both capacity and opportunities for professionals to understand each other’s mandates, roles, and policies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a graduate elective course for social workers and educators that was geared toward educational outcomes of children in care. Thirty-eight students from both disciplines participated in a summer institute. Although participants valued the content and process of the course, it is unclear whether these types of initiatives facilitate enhanced IPC. Findings do however suggest that IPE initiatives targeted toward a specific population may have more positive outcomes, compared to general IPC.

Never too old to learn new tricks: Surveying Canadian healthcare professionals about learning needs in caring for older adults with cancer

IntroductionThe number of older adults with cancer is growing but little is known about healthcare professionals' (HCPs) perceptions of their readiness to care for older adults with cancer. The Canadian Network on Aging and Cancer together with the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology, Oncology and Aging Special Interest Group, conducted a survey to assess geriatric oncology learning needs of Canadian HCPs and explore any differences in needs between nurses and physicians. MethodsAn online survey was distributed to Canadian HCP, which assessed respondent confidence and desire to learn about domains related to geriatric oncology, current clinical practice and sociodemographic information. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to characterize participant characteristics, learning needs and compare learning needs of physicians vs. nurses. ResultsRespondents (n = 154) were mostly physicians (n = 78, 51%) or nurses (n = 56, 36%). Respondents reported not being confident addressing mental health issues (75%), polypharmacy (71%), geriatric oncology care models (69%), and return to baseline function post-treatment (67%). Physicians reported more confidence than nurses in managing comorbidities (72% vs. 49%, p < 0.05), having difficult conversations (90% vs. 68%, p < 0.001), and addressing ageism (76% vs. 58%, p < 0.05), while nurses reported more confidence with managing mobility limitations (64% vs 42%, p < 0.05), fall prevention (72% vs. 26%, p < 0.01) and supporting caregivers (74% vs 52%, p < 0.05). Nurses wanted to learn more about geriatric oncology than physicians for 10 domains (p < 0.05). ConclusionThere is a need for interprofessional educational initiatives that address differences between nurses and physicians in clinical areas of confidence and learning needs.

Working together in clinical pathology: An interprofessional education initiative for dentistry, oral health, and medical laboratory science teachers and students.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Introduction. In the health professional education literature, there is a need for information about the teaching and learning of medical laboratory sciences for clinical practice. The goal of this reflection-on-practice is to describe how an orofacial pathology interprofessional education (IPE) initiative was designed and implemented. Innovation. The designers of this initiative were teachers from dentistry, oral health, and medical laboratory science. The designers used six interprofessional competencies (patient-centred care, role clarification, team functioning, collaborative leadership, communication, and cultural practice) to guide their construction of teaching and learning resources. The initiative required students to work collaboratively with a given patient case to develop a differential diagnosis, prepare a treatment plan, present their case to classmates and staff members, and describe how they worked together to address the orofacial pathology in their case. Evaluation. The designers collected and considered evaluation information including the learning resources used, logistical arrangements for the initiative, and evaluation data from students via an anonymous 10-item questionnaire. Students rated statements that addressed the six interprofessional competencies and provided written comments about the initiative. Outcomes. In general, the 18 students agreed strongly with all statements except for cultural practice. Written comments about the initiative were positive and indicated that students appreciated learning about their own discipline and that of other professionals in the context of providing oral healthcare involving orofacial pathology. What next? Given the acceptability of this initiative to the designers, facilitators, and students, the next step is to consider the feasibility of scaling-up this small voluntary IPE initiative into a permanent component of the dentistry, oral health, and medical laboratory science programmes. Aspects to consider include staffing, scheduling, assessment, and cultural perspectives.

Applying the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) to medical, veterinary and dual degree Master of Public Health (MPH) students at a private medical institution.

PurposeWith the emergence of zoonoses such as Ebola, many medical educators, have recommended the need for providing Interprofessional Education (IPE) as a pedagogical tool for familiarizing medical (MD) students with the framework of One Health (OH). This is important as students need to understand, the wider impacts of animal and environmental health factors on human health. IPE initiatives which typically incorporate the principles of OH, can provide MD and veterinary (DVM) students with a greater awareness of the role that animal diseases and climate change have on global health. However, negative attitudes to IPE have been reported as a key limitation to IPE implementation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in readiness for interprofessional learning of medical and other allied human health professional students, including veterinarians and students undertaking dual degrees in combination with a Master of Public Health (MPH). Reflecting on Role Theory (RT) and Social Identity Theory (SIT), the paper aims to contribute to the understanding of differences in perceptions that exist between different types of health professionals.MethodsStudents at a medical University enrolled in MD, DVM, DVM MPH and MD MPH programs, were invited to complete the standardized Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), which consists of 19 Likert scale items measuring concepts relating to teamwork, professional identity and roles and responsibilities. A total of 364 students across the four programs took part. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed to assess differences between the programmes.ResultsResults indicate that MD students score lower on the different RIPLS items compared to DVM, MD MPH and DVM MPH students. DVM and DVM MPH students are generally more positive about the need for teamwork, while MD MPH and DVM MPH students have a stronger positive identity about the need for IPE.ConclusionsThe findings drawn from this study suggests that the MD students keep on seeing themselves as a separate group of health professionals in their own right. In order to guarantee an increased level of understanding on issues relating to the human-animal-environmental spectrum, medical curricula might benefit from the incorporation of shared learning and teamwork, as occurs within the MPH, enabling students to appreciate the value of interprofessional collaboration to their future practice. This is especially important during a time at which human-animal-environmental issues are affecting social and economic life worldwide.

LO81: The use of in situ simulation to improve emergency department staff comfort with the management of high acuity, low occurrence cases

Introduction: In the emergency department (ED), high-acuity presentations encountered at low frequencies are associated with reduced staff comfort. Previous studies have shown that simulation can improve provider confidence with practical skills and management of presentations in various fields of medicine. The present study examined the effect of in situ simulation on interprofessional provider comfort with the identification and management of high-acuity low-frequency events in the ED. It further assessed the feasibility of implementing weekly simulation as an interprofessional education initiative in a high-volume ED. Methods: This was a retrospective pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design. Weekly in situ simulation events were facilitated by an interdisciplinary team in a high-volume ED in Hamilton, Ontario that sees an average of 185 patients per day. To date, 34 simulation events were held between January 18, 2019 and November 22, 2019, and included neonatal, paediatric and obstetric emergencies, and adult codes. There was an average of 20 patients presenting to the ED during these events. Events included a debrief, and typically lasted 60 minutes in total. Participants included individuals from various disciplines working on shift at the time of the event. Questionnaires were administered via email following the event, in which participants were asked to rank their comfort with emergency codes before and after the simulation using two 5-point Likert scales. The data from 39 questionnaires was analyzed. T-tests were used to analyze differences in self-reported comfort scores. Results: Questionnaire responders included nurses (41%), respiratory therapists (26%), resident physicians (10%), paramedics (3%), attending physicians (3%), students of various disciplines (10%) and other (7%). 38% of participants reported increases in comfort following simulation when compared to prior. Using the 5-point scale, the average reported score for comfort pre-simulation was 3.59 (95% CI 3.30–3.88), and the average post-simulation score was 3.97 (95% CI 3.76–4.19, p = 0.03). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that weekly interprofessional in situ simulation is feasible in a high-volume ED, and significantly improves self-reported provider comfort with the identification and management of high-acuity, low-frequency events. This warrants the implementation of this simulation design to improve staff confidence and has implications for its potential role in improving team dynamics and patient safety.

Leadership characteristics for interprofessional collaboration in China.

To explore the perceptions of health professionals and educators regarding the characteristics of leadership that they believed were required for successful interprofessional education and interprofessional collaboration initiatives in China. Leadership is a key competency in the successful implementation of any collaborative initiative in healthcare. However, there are few studies about leadership characteristics how these facilitate interprofessional collaboration in health care, especially in China. Data for this secondary analysis came from a qualitative study of Interprofessional Team Development in China. Grounded theory methods were used to analyze fifteen semi-structured interviews from the original study. The three leadership characteristics extracted that facilitated interprofessional collaboration were: 1) serving as a role model of Junzi (according to Confucianism the idea person); 2) initiating and maintaining collaboration; and 3) showing benevolence to all team members during interprofessional collaboration. One overarching category that surfaced throughout the interviews was that leaders who behaved in ways congruent with typical Chinese cultural expectations for leadership would be most effective. This study describes the characteristics of leadership for interprofessional collaboration, providing directions for training and cultivation of healthcare professionals and workers so that they are better prepared for and work more effectively in interprofessional collaborative practice.

Interprofessional education and collaborative practice in Kuwait: attitudes and barriers from faculty

ABSTRACT Interprofessional education (IPE) has been adopted in many educational systems to prepare students in the health professions for team-based practice, but its implementation is still limited in many countries. In preparation for the introduction of IPE within Kuwait University Health Sciences Center, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to explore the attitudes of faculty members (academic staff/academic support staff) toward collaborative practice and IPE, their training needs, and perceived barriers to implementing IPE. Two hundred and ten individuals completed the survey (60% response rate). Respondents expressed positive attitudes toward interprofessional healthcare teams, IPE, and interprofessional learning in the academic setting (median [IQR] overall attitude for each scale was 4.0 [1.0] on a scale of 5). Overall attitudes were significantly more positive among assistant professors, females, and faculty members with ≤ 10 years of experience (p < .05). Most respondents (91.9%) indicated willingness to be trained to implement IPE, with small-group learning as the preferred teaching method (85.7%). A longitudinal curriculum was less popular than discrete IPE experiences. The top reported barriers to implementing IPE were leadership challenges (86.6%), curriculum challenges (82.4%), teaching challenges (81.4%), and resistance to change (80.5%). These findings have implications for developing strategies to engage faculty in effective IPE initiatives internationally.

Working together in clinical pathology: An interprofessional education initiative for dentistry, oral health, and medical laboratory science teachers and students

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Introduction. In the health professional education literature, there is a need for information about the teaching and learning of medical laboratory sciences for clinical practice. The goal of this reflection-on-practice is to describe how an orofacial pathology interprofessional education (IPE) initiative was designed and implemented. Innovation. The designers of this initiative were teachers from dentistry, oral health, and medical laboratory science. The designers used six interprofessional competences (patient-centred care, role clarification, team functioning, collaborative leadership, communication, and cultural practice) to guide their construction of teaching and learning resources. The initiative required students to work collaboratively with a given patient case to develop a differential diagnosis, prepare a treatment plan, present their case to classmates and staff members, and describe how they worked together to address the orofacial pathology in their case. Evaluation. The designers collected and considered evaluation information including the learning resources used, logistical arrangements for the initiative, and student ratings about interprofessional competencies. Outcomes. In general, the designers felt that they had successfully designed and implemented an IPE initiative that met five of the six interprofessional competencies. The designers did not feel that the cultural practice competency was adequately addressed in this version of the initiative. What next? Given the acceptability of this initiative to the designers, facilitators, and students, the next step is to consider the feasibility of scaling-up this small voluntary IPE initiative into a permanent component of the dentistry, oral health, and medical laboratory science programmes. Aspects to consider include staffing, scheduling, assessment, and cultural perspectives.

An interprofessional education initiative between psychology and dentistry: an exploration of students’ perceptions of confidence

ABSTRACT Part of preparing future health professionals for multidisciplinary work environments involves interprofessional education (IPE). We explore students’ perceptions of confidence during IPE and how this impacts their ability to contribute to interprofessional learning. The written reflections of 115 undergraduate Psychology (n = 58) and Dentistry (n = 57) students aged 19–47 years (median = 22 years) who participated in two sessions of IPE utilising motivational interviewing to encourage health behaviour change were analysed. Six themes were identified: Concerns about Confidence Resulted in Additional Prior Preparation, Lack of Confidence as an Impediment to Contribution, An Increase in Confidence as a Result of Doing, Recognising the Value of Confidence, Confidence as an Area for Further Development, and Confidence from the Outset. The importance of confidence in impacting students’ ability to actively contribute in IPE should not be underestimated. Educators should seek to maximise student confidence and to create a safe learning environment where further confidence can be built. Further research is needed to determine factors that may boost confidence including the optimal time to incorporate IPE in degree programmes, the best format in which to deliver IPE, and how much IPE to deliver.

Student learning styles: Implications for interprofessional education program design

This cross-sectional, exploratory, quantitative research project investigated differences in students’ learning styles across multiple academic disciplines. The Grasha-Reichmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS) was selected which presents six learning styles: independent, avoidant, collaborative, dependent, competitive, and participant. Surveys were administered to students (N = 448) registered in professional preparatory programs (n = 6) at a Midwest regional commuter-based campus. Results support the need for interprofessional education initiatives to be developed from a student-centered perspective where the attributes of learners are interwoven – explicitly and implicitly, into the learning experience.

Interprofessional Education (IPE) in Developing Countries: Challenges and Lesson Learnt from its Implementation in the United Kingdom: A Systematic Review

Background: Evidence of effectiveness of the Interprofessional Education (IPE) in improving collaboration practice, patient and family satisfaction, and patient outcomes had been widely published. Most of developed countries, including United Kingdom, have implemented IPE in their healthcare curriculum, whereas some developing countries are starting the IPE initiative program.Purpose: This study aims to examine the challenges in implementing IPE.Methods: Primary studies to be included in this systematic review were searched fromelectronic databases such as MEDLINE (OVID) 1996, CINAHL, and ERIC (EBSCO). Hand searching through journal of inter-professional care was also conducted. The included studies were critically appraised using JBI QARI appraisal tool. The findings of the included studies were extracted using JBI finding extraction form and appraised based on the JBI level of credibility. The analysis of the study was presented in narrative form.Results: This review produced five qualitative studies using focus groups and interview methods. A total of 5 out of 88 papers met the inclusion criteria included in this systematic review. Three synthesis findings of the challenges in implementing IPE and possible solutions were identified in the literature: inter-professional relationship, IPE curriculum, and administration and resources.Conclusions: The evidence of implementing IPE in developing countries is limited. However, the challenges in implementing IPE in developing countries remain similar with those faced by developed countries. This can be guidance for developing countries to plan, initiate and implement IPE. Future studies about implementation of IPE in developing countries are highly recommended.

Stress Testing the Resuscitation Room: Latent Threats to Patient Safety Identified During Interprofessional In Situ Simulation in a Canadian Academic Emergency Department.

Emergency department (ED) resuscitation is a complex, high-stakes procedure where positive outcomes depend on effective interactions between the health care team, the patient, and the environment. Resuscitation teams work in dynamic environments and strive to ensure the timely delivery of necessary treatments, equipment, and skill sets when required. However, systemic failures in this environment cannot always be adequately anticipated, which exposes patients to opportunities for harm. As part of a new interprofessional education and quality improvement initiative, this prospective, observational study sought to characterize latent safety threats (LSTs) identified during the delivery of in situ, simulated resuscitations in our ED. In situ simulation (ISS) sessions were delivered on a monthly basis in the EDs at each campus of a large tertiary care academic hospital system, during which a variety of scenarios were run with teams of ED health care professionals. LSTs were identified by simulation facilitators and participants during the case and debriefing and then grouped thematically for analysis. During the study period, 22 ISS sessions were delivered, involving 58 cases and reaching 383 ED health care professionals. 196 latent safety threats were identified through these sessions (mean= 3.4 LSTs per case) of which 110 were determined to be "actionable" at a system level. LSTs identified included system/environmental design flaws, equipment problems, failures in department processes, and knowledge/skill gaps. Corrective mechanisms were initiated in 85% of actionable cases. Effective quality improvement and continuing education programs are essential to translate these findings into more resilient patient care.ISS, beyond its role as a training tool for developing intrinsic and crisis resource management skills, can be effectively used to identify system issues in the ED that could expose critically ill patients to harm.

Association of a Multisite Interprofessional Education Initiative With Quality of Primary Care

Studies have shown that interprofessional education (IPE) improves learner proficiencies, but few have measured the association of IPE with patient outcomes, such as clinical quality. To estimate the association of a multisite IPE initiative with quality of care. This study used difference-in-differences analysis of US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) electronic health record data from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2015. Patients cared for by resident clinicians in 5 VA academic primary care clinics that participated in the Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education (CoEPCE), an initiative designed to promote IPE among physician, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, and psychologist trainees, were compared with patients cared for by resident clinicians in 5 regionally matched non-CoEPCE clinics using data for the 3 academic years (ie, July 1 to June 30) before and 4 academic years after the CoEPCE launch. Analysis was conducted from January 18, 2018, to January 17, 2019. Among patients with diabetes, outcomes included annual hemoglobin A1c, poor hemoglobin A1c control (ie, <9% or unmeasured), and annual renal test; among patients 65 years and older, outcomes included prescription of high-risk medications; among patients with hypertension, outcomes included hypertension control (ie, blood pressure, <140/90 mm Hg); and among all patients, outcomes included timely mental health referrals, primary care mental health integrated visits, and hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions. A total of 44 527 patients contributed 107 686 patient-years; 49 279 (45.8%) were CoEPCE resident patient-years (mean [SD] patient age, 59.3 [15.2] years; 26 206 [53.2%] white; 8073 [16.4%] women; mean [SD] patient Elixhauser comorbidity score, 12.9 [15.1]), and 58 407 (54.2%) were non-CoEPCE resident patient-years (mean [SD] patient age, 61.8 [15.3] years; 43 912 [75.2%] white; 4915 [8.4%] women; mean [SD] patient Elixhauser comorbidity score, 13.8 [15.7]). Compared with resident clinicians who did not participate in the CoEPCE initiative, CoEPCE training was associated with improvements in the proportion of patients with diabetes with poor hemoglobin A1c control (-4.6 percentage points; 95% CI, -7.5 to -1.8 percentage points; P < .001), annual renal testing among patients with diabetes (3.2 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.6 to 5.7 percentage points; P = .02), prescription of high-risk medications among patients 65 years and older (-2.3 percentage points; 95% CI, -4.0 to -0.6 percentage points; P = .01), and timely mental health referrals (1.6 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.6 to 2.6 percentage points; P = .002). Fewer patients cared for by CoEPCE resident clinicians had a hospitalization for an ambulatory care-sensitive condition compared with patients cared for by non-CoEPCE resident clinicians in non-CoEPCE clinics (-0.4 percentage points; 95% CI, -0.9 to 0.0 percentage points; P = .01). Sensitivity analyses with alternative comparison groups yielded similar results. In this study, the CoEPCE initiative was associated with modest improvements in quality of care. Implementation of IPE was associated with improvements in patient outcomes and may potentiate delivery system reform efforts.

Interprofessional Education Collaborative Competencies and the Public Health Professional

Interprofessional education involves programs that foster the partnerships of two or more individuals studying different health professions, thus allowing students to learn with and about the other professions. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative Competencies were updated in 2016 with a threefold purpose that included a greater emphasis on population health, thereby encouraging the health professions who typically work on an individual level to broaden their understanding of the field of public health. In the professional preparation of public health professionals and health education specialists, both foundational competencies and areas of responsibility imply and/or explicitly state that public health professionals and health education specialists must be able to work with interprofessional teams. Interprofessional collaborative learning activities have been recommended to be offered early and often during health professions training. Not only do public health and health education students benefit from inclusion in these interprofessional education activities but other health professions students also benefit from exposure to public health students and population health concepts. Public health and health education have contributed to leadership in interprofessional education initiatives and are well-situated to lend population health expertise to improve health care delivery as well as population and patient health outcomes.

Leveraging a contextually sensitive approach to rural geriatric interprofessional education.

Interprofessional Education (IPE) has been recognized on an international and national level as an effective method of preparing health professionals for practice while also improving health system outcomes. In particular, recent research highlights that geriatric IPE initiatives can be mutually beneficial both to learners and older adults in rural communities. Despite this trend, IPE initiatives continue to produce mixed results. Although some scholars have acknowledged that IPE initiatives need to consider the complexity of healthcare contexts, there is a dearth of research that considers the diversity of rural communities or rural older adult health. This paper proposes that leveraging contextually sensitive rural gerontological health research marks a next step in IPE development.

National Interprofessional Education Initiatives: A Year in Review

National Interprofessional Education Initiatives: A Year in Review

Perinatal/neonatal palliative care: Effecting improved knowledge and multi-professional practice of midwifery and children's nursing students through an inter-professional education initiative

This paper presents a study that examines the potential value of a new and innovative inter-professional education (IPE) experience for final year midwifery and children's nursing students focused on improving awareness of end-of-life care for infants in conjunction with the support of their families. The study uses an action research approach to examine midwifery and children's nursing student experiences of an IPE initiative in developing knowledge regarding perinatal/neonatal palliative care.The setting is a Higher Education Institute in the South of England that included final year midwifery students (n = 39) and children's nursing students (n = 34) taking part in the study. Qualitative and quantitative data indicated that the IPE intervention had proven worth in developing knowledge and confidence in the students as both student groupings felt they lacked knowledge and confidence about perinatal/neonatal palliative care before attending the study day.Students felt that learning with, from and about the other profession represented was important in generating their knowledge. Educators should explore innovative ways to enable the further development of the fledgling speciality of perinatal/neonatal palliative care through education on an interprofessional platform.

Identification of core ethical topics for interprofessional education in the intensive care unit: a thematic analysis

ABSTRACT Medical educators have not identified effective approaches for interprofessional ethics education of clinicians who work in intensive care units (ICUs), in spite of the fact that ICUs have a high incidence of ethical conflicts. As a first step in designing an interprofessional ethics education initiative tailored to the needs of ICU team members, we interviewed 12 professionals from the medical and surgical ICUs of a tertiary care academic medical center to understand what they know about medical ethics. Respondents were interviewed between November 2016 and February 2017. We used the ‘think aloud’ approach and realist thematic analysis of the sessions to evaluate the extent and content of interprofessional team members’ knowledge of medical ethics. We found wide variation in their knowledge of and facility in applying the principles and concepts of biomedical ethics and ways of resolving ethical conflicts. Ethics education tailored to these areas will help equip critical care professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to discuss and address ethical conflicts encountered in the ICU. Preventive ethics rounds are one approach for providing real-time, embedded interprofessional ethics education in the clinical setting.

Interprofessional education in healthcare and health workforce (HRH) planning in Brazil: experiences and good practices

ABSTRACTWe report a review of interprofessional education (IPE) for health in Brazil with the objective of identifying experiences and good practices related to the different contexts of changing education and health systems. Our approach is an integrative bibliographic review using surveys and analysis of documents related to IPE in the Virtual Health Library scientific data base. The Brazilian scenario on IPE is still rudimentary, lacking clarity in its definition and scientific progress. Records of successful experiences of IPE and collaborative practices show some growth, with a tendency toward great adherence of professionals, students and teachers in the training model reshuffle. Collaborative practices are strategically used as innovative pedagogical approaches to foster the establishment of integrated teaching-service-community curricula, which coexist with traditional ones. IPE initiatives and collaborative practices have existed in Brazil since the mid-twentieth century. However, the dynamics of training models have not been accompanied by the same pace of change in health services, even under pressure to expand the primary health care (PHC) network and international influence for changes in educational models. The main challenge in this context is to make changes in the three components of training programmes: theoretical orientation, pedagogical approach and scenarios of practices, responding to population health needs and improving people’s quality of life.

Final Year Allied Health Profession, Midwifery and Nursing Students’ Attitudes Towards Interprofessional Education

Evaluation of pre-qualifying interprofessional education (IPE) programmes is important in exploring its effectiveness. The University of the West of England Interprofessional Questionnaire (UWE IPQ) has been rigorously validated, yet few studies using this tool have been published. We aimed to explore the attitudes of final year allied health profession (AHP), midwifery and nursing students towards IPE in this study. Differences between students’ attitudes towards IPE according to gender, undergraduate programmes, academic background and experience were also explored. A total of 103 participants, AHP (n=10), midwifery (n=19) and nursing (n=74) students took part in the study. This study design used a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, and was conducted within the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton. The validated UWE IPQ was administered to a volunteer sample of final year AHP, nursing and midwifery students in June 2010. Findings revealed that majority of the students rated their communication and teamwork skills (76.7%), interprofessional learning (74.8%) and interprofessional relationships (92.2%) positively, but they held negative attitudes towards interprofessional interactions (69.9%). Significant differences were found between participants’ attitudes towards interprofessional learning in relation to undergraduate programmes (p=0.01) and prior working experience in health and social care (p=0.03). IPE has shaped the students’ views regarding their collaborative learning and teamwork. Therefore, introducing IPE initiative from the beginning of the pre-qualifying stage at universities would motivate them to become interprofessional collaborative-ready professionals. DOI : http://dx.doi.org./10.17576/JSKM-2019-1702-02