Attitudes of clinician educators towards interprofessional education and collaboration: Insights from two interprofessional scales

Abstract

The increasing complexity of healthcare needs underlines the growing importance of interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) in enhancing quality of patient care. In particular, clinician educators play an influential role in advocating IPECP. The primary goal of our exploratory pilot study is to explore 34 clinician educators' attitudes towards IPECP by using the adapted 14-item Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS) and 15-item Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Mean scores of ATHCTS and RIPLS were 3.81 (SD = 0.90) and 4.02 (SD = 0.79), respectively. Using exploratory factor analysis, we identified four factors: team value (ATHCTS), team efficiency (ATHCTS), teamwork and collaboration (RIPLS), and professional socialisation (RIPLS). The "team efficiency" factor on the ATHCTS scored lowest (factor mean = 3.49) compared with other factors (factor means = 3.87-4.08). Correlation analyses revealed that the "team efficiency" factor had small correlations with other factors (r = -0.05-0.37). Our clinician educators valued IPECP in promoting teamwork and professional socialisation but they perceived IPECP to compromise efficiency. The issue of perceived inefficiency by clinician educators merits attention in order to promote wider implementation of IPECP.

Validity of Chinese Version of Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Health Care Teams Scale

“…13 The ATIHCTS was used as the measurement tool, as it had been found to have high internal consistency when completed by health professional students. Similar to some previous studies, 8,12,15 we found that health care professionals valued teamwork and collaboration and that their positive attitudes played an important role in enhancing quality of patient care.…”

“…8 The scale, which has been applied for a wide variety of health professions, has been used in Indonesia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and Singapore to measure attitudes toward interprofessional health care teams. 5,8,[12][13][14][15] Most Chinese health profession education programs are based on independent professional teaching, which leads to a lack of interprofessional collaboration among different professions and interdisciplinary cooperation opportunities. The lack of interprofessional teamwork was found to be an important reason leading to medical errors in China.…”

Running a Radiology Residency Program: Strategies for Success

“…These experiences allow trainees to hone their interdisciplinary communication skills, develop presentation skills, and actively participate in an interprofessional team. Strong relationships with departments outside radiology also promote higher levels of professionalism and respect among providers, thereby enhancing the learning environment for residents and all other trainees (43). The program also can encourage residents from different departments to undertake collaborative research or quality improvement projects.…”