Perception Of Interprofessional Learning Research Articles

A 3-year qualitative evaluation of interprofessional team-based clinical education at an Australian dental school.

This article describes a qualitative evaluation of interprofessional (IP) team-based treatment planning (TBTP) involving dentistry, oral health therapy, dental prosthetics, and dental technology students at the Griffith University School of Dentistry and Oral Health (DOH). Using the same data from a recently published article that looked solely at the quantitative evaluation of TBTP, this article focuses on the qualitative evaluation of TBTP. This evaluation explores the contextual meaning related to the previously published aspects of TBTP that contributed positively toward oral health students' IP clinical learning and identifies themes reflecting students' IP clinical experience. Thematic analysis of transcripts from nine focus groups, comprised of 46 final year students and open-ended questions collected from 544 students through an online instrument from 2012 to 2014, explored the question: "What is the contribution of IP student team-based processes on students' perceptions of IP learning and practice at DOH?" Responses from online participants and student focus groups revealed three major themes: useful role learning, communication confidence, and pro-active collaborative teamwork. Throughout each of these themes, students stated they possessed a confidence in collaborating with other oral health students as exhibited through an understanding of profession-specific and IP roles, self-assurance in communicating, and teamwork skills. Aspects of TBTP that contributed positively toward students' IP clinical learning and practice were meaningfully identified.

Assessment of nursing undergraduate's perceptions of Interprofessional learning: A cross-sectional study.

Inter-Professional Learning (IPE) is based on mutual respect, and it improves collaboration and teamwork, and satisfaction among students and professionals. This study aimed to assess the perceptions of IPE among Nursing students in Saudi Arabia. This is a cross-sectional survey-based study conducted among students from three different universities in Saudi Arabia, among nursing students over 6 months from May 2021 to October 2021. Descriptive analysis was used to assess the perceptions of IPE and inferential testing was used to assess the association of perception scores among variables using a statistical package for social science version 26 (SPSS). A total of 517 participants responded to the questionnaires. A higher proportion (n = 281, 54.4%) of the participants were females and were between 21 and 24 (n = 350; 67.7%) years old. The mean age of the participants was 21.35 (SD = 1.46). The majority of them were from King Saud University (n = 273, 52.8%), followed by King Khalid University (n = 127, 24.6%). Of the participants (80.4 %) agreed learning with other students will help them to become more effective members of a healthcare team. The mean overall score for RIPLS was 70.85 (SD = 6.611). The mean score for teamwork and collaboration was 37.19 (SD = 4.79), professional identity, 23.23 (SD = 2.89), roles and responsibilities 10.42 (SD = 2.20). The mean score is significantly associated with the university type (p = 0.0001), and previous knowledge of IPE (p = 0.0001). The majority of the students had positive perceptions of understanding IPE and a good level of preparation for IPE. This means that if IPE is conducted among Saudi students, students will benefit from it, and it has the potential to improve their capacity to deliver holistic nursing care to their patients.

Undergraduate psychology and dental students’ perceptions of interprofessional learning when using motivational interviewing to encourage health behaviour change: a mixed methods study

ABSTRACT Objective To examine undergraduate psychology and dental students’ perceptions of their self-perceived ability, value and comfort in working with others in an interprofessional context. Method Students participated in a new interprofessional learning initiative incorporating motivational interviewing to encourage health behaviour change. Pre- and post-interprofessional learning survey data from 49 students and written reflections of 115 students were analysed. Results Students demonstrated significant improvement in all quantitative measures, including overall interprofessional socialisation and values as well as perceived ability, value and comfort in working with others. Three themes relating to perceptions of ability, value and comfort with interprofessional collaboration were identified: Scope of Practice, Collaboration as a Valuable Approach and Healthy Scepticism. Conclusion While the findings show that even small-scale interprofessional learning programmes can significantly increase students’ perceptions in these domains, student feedback can further enhance interprofessional learning. Within interprofessional learning, the scope of practice for health professions, including the students’ own discipline, must be clear, knowledge about facilitators and barriers to successful interprofessional collaboration and ways to address these issues must be included, and efforts should be made to show students how professions that may initially seem quite disparate, can and do, collaborate to support positive patient outcomes. Key Points What is already known about this topic: (1) Successful interprofessional collaboration offers benefits for clients, health professionals and health systems. (2) Interprofessional learning aims to produce a collaborative practice-ready psychology workforce responsive to a range of client presentations and workplace contexts. (3) Psychologists are often employed in multidisciplinary teams, yet in Australia it has not been commonplace for psychologists-in-training to be exposed to interprofessional learning. What this topic adds: (1) Small-scale interprofessional learning initiatives may be associated with improvements in students’ overall interprofessional socialisation and values, and perceived ability, value and comfort in working with individuals from other health professions. (2) For interprofessional learning to be successful, students must be knowledgeable about the scope of practice for a range of health professions, including their own. (3) Students benefit from knowledge about facilitators and barriers to successful interprofessional collaboration and guidance on how to address these to maximise the effectiveness of collaboration.

Self-assessment, attitude and perception of interprofessional learning in hospital acquired infection control practices among health professionals in Klang Valley, Malaysia

BackgroundInterprofessional learning (IPL) is a key challenge in Malaysia in incorporating the current profession-specific medical education into the interprofessional learning curriculum. Safe practices would be enhanced with improved collaboration among the health professionals when they learn with, from, and about each other. The main objective of this study was to determine the significant differences in self-assessment, attitude, and perception of interprofessional learning among doctors and nurses in a teaching hospital in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The second objective was to determine if there is any significant difference in the selected demography factors, mean and total scores between doctors and nurses in self-assessment, attitude, and perceptions of IPL aspects.MethodsA total of doctors (39) and nurses (37) were recruited for an interventional study on the interprofessional learning approach on hospital acquired infection control. The participants responded to the University of West England Interprofessional (UWEIP) questionnaire at baseline consisting of four dimensions in IPL aspects; Self-assessment on communication and teamwork skills (CTW), interprofessional learning (IPL), interprofessional interaction (IPI), and interprofessional relationship (IPR). The Cronbach alpha value for the total questionnaire was established at 0.79.ResultsThe majority of doctors scored positive in CTW, IPL, IPR, and neutral in IPI. Nurses’ also recorded the highest positive scores in CTW, IPL, and IPR, and neutral in IPI. Negative scores were found in CTW and IPI. A significant difference was revealed between doctors and nurses in IPL attitude; p = 0.024 and there was no significant difference in other dimensions (p > .05). Results also found a significant difference between participants’ and non-participants of IPL training sessions; p = 0.009.ConclusionsThis study revealed the infusion of interprofessional learning training among the health professionals displayed better self-assessments, attitudes, and perceptions towards collaborative practices.

Interprofessional Education Through Case Study: Learners’ Attitudes on Interprofessional Education

Interprofessional education case sessions allow learners to apply discipline-specific knowledge to real-life scenarios through thorough facilitated discussion of a patient case. Our interprofessional case discussion was implemented for learners to develop care plans for complex geriatric patients; learners have intentional time to learn with, from and about each other’s roles in geriatric care. All learners receive the case and work through it from their discipline’s perspective, then join a facilitated group discussion to develop collaborative care plans. Participants were surveyed using the ICAS and qualitative comments about perceptions of interprofessional learning, and most interprofessional (medicine, pharmacy, psychology and social work) learners found the sessions to be educational. Themes emerging from qualitative analysis about what was most educational were “different professional approaches”, “professional roles”, “collaboration” and “problem solving”. Typically, learners were unable to identify “least educational” components to the activity. Overall feedback from learners aligns with the goals of interprofessional education. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Mental Health Practice and Aging Interest Group.

Students\u2019 readiness for and perception of Interprofessional learning: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundSeveral studies reported that Inter-professional Education (IPE) plays a major role in creating an effective collaborating environment in healthcare settings to achieve high-quality patient care. This study measured the College of Applied Medical Sciences (CAMS) students’ readiness for and perceptions of IPE.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with 232 undergraduate students in Riyadh, using a stratified random sampling method. All the undergraduate students of CAMS were included. Two previously validated questionnaires, the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) and the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) were used in the study.ResultsThe mean score for the RIPLS was 86.8. The Tukey post-hoc test score was significantly higher comparing the Occupational Therapy and the Respiratory Therapy programs. There was no difference between the overall RIPLS and subscales between male and female students as well as senior and junior students. For the IEPS, the mean score was 77.7. The Tukey post-hoc test score was significantly higher in the Occupational Therapy and Respiratory Therapy programs.ConclusionThe current study indicated that the Applied Medical Sciences’ students demonstrated readiness for IPE as an important element in creating collaborative teamwork in their programs. The early incorporation of IPE in the pre-professional years will enhance collaboration in management and patient care.

Sri Lankan Undergraduate Healthcare Student’s Perceptions of Interprofessional Learning: A Cross-Sectional Study

Sri Lankan Undergraduate Healthcare Student’s Perceptions of Interprofessional Learning: A Cross-Sectional Study

Views from the field: Medical student experiences and perceptions of interprofessional learning and collaboration in rural settings

ABSTRACTExploring the perceived environment where students are educated, as well as where they practice, is particularly important for educators and practitioners working in situations of interprofessional rural and remote health. In this study, we explored the perceptions of undergraduate medical students regarding interprofessionalism across their four-year undergraduate program which focuses on rural health. A thematic content analysis of the text-data was conducted on a convenience sample of 47 student responses to essay questions across four cohorts of a four-year undergraduate medical program. The medical program has an explicit social accountability mandate for responsiveness to the needs of a rural population and thus students have multiple opportunities to experience interprofessional education and collaboration in rural contexts. Participants reported (a) blurring and flexibility of roles in a primarily positive manner, (b) participating in unstructured interprofessional learning and collaboration, (c) experiencing the importance of social connections to interprofessional collaboration and learning, and (d) realisations that interprofessional collaboration is a means of overcoming barriers in rural areas. We discuss our findings using the socio-material perspective of complexity theory. These findings may be used to inform undergraduate programs in re-defining, re-creating, developing, and fostering interprofessional learning opportunities for medical students in rural communities as well as to support clinical faculty through ongoing professional development.

An evaluation of a harm reduction Summer School for undergraduate health professional students

Aims: The role of health professionals in the provision of harm reduction services is well established in some countries, but not all. We describe a two week course in harm reduction for undergraduate health professionals from a range of countries run in 2014, and provide an account of its evaluation. Methods: Before and after design, with Revised Interprofessional Education Perception Scale (RIEPS) and Harm Reduction Attitude Measurement Scale (HRAS) administered at the start and end of the course, and focus groups at the end of the course to explore perceptions of harm reduction. Findings: Student perceptions of interprofessional learning were generally positive at the start of the course. The only significant change at the end of the course was an improvement in “Perception of Actual Co-operation”. Attitudes towards harm reduction were positive, but there was a significant positive shift in total attitude score at the end of the course. Qualitative analyses indicated that students experienced a shift towards less stigmatising attitudes, and attributed some of this to the experiential visits they attended. Conclusions: An interprofessional harm reduction course can have a positive impact on students’ attitudes towards harm reduction.

Attitudes and Readiness of Students of Healthcare Professions towards Interprofessional Learning.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the attitudes and readiness of students of healthcare professions towards interprofessional learning.MethodologyA cross-sectional study design was used. Two different scales were used to measure the readiness for and perception of interprofessional learning; these were the 'Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale' and the 'Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale'. A convenience sampling method was employed. The sample was drawn from undergraduate students enrolled in years 1 to 5 of medical, dental, pharmacy and health sciences programme. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data.ResultsThe overall response rate was 83%. The students mentioned that shared learning with other healthcare professional students will increase their ability to understand clinical problems. The students also mentioned that such shared learning will help them to communicate better with patients and other professionals. The students preferred to work with individuals from their own profession. Participants from medical, dental, pharmacy, and health sciences had a difference in opinion about 'negative professional identity', a domain of the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale. Based on the different year of study of the students, 'team work and collaboration', 'negative professional identity' and 'roles and responsibility' were the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale domains where students had a difference in opinion.ConclusionsAttitudes and readiness towards interprofessional learning showed significant differences among students of various healthcare professions; these differences also depended on the students' year of study. Interprofessional learning should be incorporated in the curriculum of all healthcare professional programs, which may foster students to become competent healthcare providers and understand each profession's role.

Capturing readiness to learn and collaboration as explored with an interprofessional simulation scenario: A mixed-methods research study

Didactic lecture does not lend itself to teaching interprofessional collaboration. High-fidelity human patient simulation with a focus on clinical situations/scenarios is highly conducive to interprofessional education. Consequently, a need for research supporting the incorporation of interprofessional education with high-fidelity patient simulation based technology exists. The purpose of this study was to explore readiness for interprofessional learning and collaboration among pre-licensure health professions students participating in an interprofessional education human patient simulation experience. Using a mixed methods convergent parallel design, a sample of 53 pre-licensure health professions students enrolled in nursing, respiratory therapy, health administration, and physical therapy programs within a college of health professions participated in high-fidelity human patient simulation experiences. Perceptions of interprofessional learning and collaboration were measured with the revised Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and the Health Professional Collaboration Scale (HPCS). Focus groups were conducted during the simulation post-briefing to obtain qualitative data. Statistical analysis included non-parametric, inferential statistics. Qualitative data were analyzed using a phenomenological approach. Pre- and post-RIPLS demonstrated pre-licensure health professions students reported significantly more positive attitudes about readiness for interprofessional learning post-simulation in the areas of team work and collaboration, negative professional identity, and positive professional identity. Post-simulation HPCS revealed pre-licensure nursing and health administration groups reported greater health collaboration during simulation than physical therapy students. Qualitative analysis yielded three themes: "exposure to experiential learning," "acquisition of interactional relationships," and "presence of chronology in role preparation." Quantitative and qualitative data converged around the finding that physical therapy students had less positive perceptions of the experience because they viewed physical therapy practice as occurring one-on-one rather than in groups. Findings support that pre-licensure students are ready to engage in interprofessional education through exposure to an experiential format such as high-fidelity human patient simulation.

The value of inter-professional education: a comparative study of dental technology students' perceptions across four countries.

The ability to function as an effective member of a dental care team is a highly desirable--frequently mandated--attribute of dental technology (DT) graduates. Currently, there is little rigorous examination of how the learning of team-working skills might best be structured in a DT curriculum. This research compares DT curricula, and students' attitudes and perceptions regarding collaboration in practice, from four countries. Students (n=376) were invited to complete an education profile questionnaire, and the standardised measure--the shared learning scale. There were 196 (52%) responses. Students given opportunities to engage with others had better perceptions of inter-professional learning (IPL). Most believed that team-work and collaborative skills were best acquired by learning together with other dental care professionals, preferably sharing cases for real patients. Curricula should maximise opportunities for dental technology students to experience authentic IPL. Collaboration and team-work needs to be embedded through the whole undergraduate programme.

Students' readiness for and perception of inter-professional learning: A cross-sectional study

Inter-professional education is a critical pedagogical approach aiming at preparing healthcare students for providing patient care in a collaborative team atmosphere. To investigate the readiness for and perception of inter-professional learning and their relationship among healthcare students. It was a correlational, cross-sectional study. Two hundred and fifty undergraduate medical, B.Sc. nursing, and B.Sc. science in surgical technology students participated in this study. The samples were selected from the colleges affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences using stratified random sampling. The Readiness for Inter-Professional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) were used to measure the readiness for and perception of inter-professional leaning. The data were analyzed using One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and independent sample T-test. The total mean scores of readiness for and perception of inter-professional learning were 82.40 (SD=23.16) and 74.04 (SD=14.26), respectively. Besides, the medical students' total mean score of readiness was significantly lower than that of the nursing and science in surgical technology students (F=76.73, P<0.0001). The results showed a significant difference between the current years of study regarding RIPLS and IEPS (P<0.0001). Also, a significant difference was demonstrated among the three fields concerning IEPS and its four subscales. Moreover, the total score of RIPLS was associated with that of IEPS (r=0.43, P<0.0001). This study indicated that the medical students had the lowest RIPLS. In addition, the nursing students reported the lowest IEPS; therefore, this group's curriculum is suggested to be revised. For evidence based practice, other studies are recommended to improve inter-professional learning.

Innovations in interprofessional learning and teaching: providing opportunities to embed patient safety within the pre-registration physiotherapy curriculum. A Pilot Study

Background: Despite recognition of the need to embed patient safety within undergraduate healthcare education, there are limited examples of how this has been achieved within physiotherapy. The purpose of this regional initiative was to develop a course and teaching resources to support Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom (UK) when embedding the World Health Organization (WHO) multiprofessional patient safety curriculum into undergraduate healthcare education.Objectives: In this pilot study, researchers assessed the impact of the interprofessional simulation-based education (IPSE) course on students’ perceptions of interprofessional learning and patient safety post-course, and explored the participants’ perceived application of knowledge and skills 3 months later.Methods: A sequential mixed-methods evaluation was conducted, including pre- and post-course Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) questionnaires and two course evaluation questionnaires featuring open and closed items (administered immediately post-course and 3 months later). Participants included undergraduate physiotherapy, medical, nursing, and pharmacy students.Results: The IPSE course enabled students to develop an appreciation of each other’s professional roles and particularly their individual and collaborative practices that may positively impact upon patient safety. Post-course students reported being able to influence patient safety through an increased application of their ability to identify errors and influence their colleagues’ practices, thus impacting directly upon patient safety.Conclusion: This paper provides an evaluation of an innovative method of providing interprofessional patient safety learning and teaching opportunities within undergraduate healthcare curricula.

Students’ perceptions of interprofessional learning through facilitated online learning modules

Background: Asynchronous e-learning is an appealing option for interprofessional education (IPE) as it addresses the geographic and timetabling barriers often encountered when organizing activities across educational programs.Aim: This study examined the extent to which pre-licensure students were able to learn with, from, and about each other through completion of innovative online IPE learning modules.Methods: Seventy-seven students completed e-learning modules developed through a consortium of educational institutions. Evaluation was primarily qualitative through focus groups, interviews, analyses on off-line discussions and an online feedback form.Results: Qualitative analyses of the discussion fora revealed that students were able to solve problems collaboratively, clarify their professional roles, and provide information from their professional perspective. Focus groups and interviews reinforced that students recognized the importance of working together and implicate clinical education as an important venue to reinforce learning about collaborative practice. Analyses of the online feedback form suggest the need for clear processes related to group assignments and deadlines.Conclusion: Students learned about each other's role, solved problems together and had positive perceptions of the online modules as a venue for interprofessional learning. Results are encouraging to those interested in using e-learning in IPE as part of an overall curriculum.