Changing student attitudes through interaction: Findings from an interprofessional workshop

Abstract

Healthcare professionals are increasingly expected to work in interprofessional teams. Students therefore need opportunities to learn and practise skills that will allow them to be effective team members when they enter the workforce. This article summarises an interprofessional learning experience for 289 undergraduate and graduate students representing 13 programmes in a College of Health Professions (CHP) at a US public university. The half-day workshop provided an opportunity for participants with no prior interprofessional education to collaborate in a problem-solving case study and to inform students of other professions about their professions. Faculty members from all CHP programmes collaborated in writing the case study and facilitating student discussions during the event. Attitudes related to interprofessional collaboration and professional roles were assessed prior to and after workshop participation. A paired t test showed a statistically significant difference in four attitude questions. Participants reported a significant increase in understanding the roles of other professionals in healthcare and community situations. They also reported an increased understanding of the benefits and challenges of working in interprofessional teams. This event successfully introduced participants to interprofessional collaboration and provided them the opportunity to share their professional expertise and understand the expertise of others.

The effects of interprofessional diabetes education on the knowledge of medical, dentistry and nursing students

“…Differences in attitudes toward interprofessional learning, roles and interaction were not found among the students participating in IPE and non-IPE course. However, the students exposed to IPE were more favorably inclined towards interprofessional learning in addition to dentistry and nursing students generally, what corroborates previous studies (30). They held counteractive opinions about interprofessional interaction.…”

Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Cytotechnology Graduate and Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes Toward Teamwork Before and After Participation in an Interprofessional Education Experience

“…The co-curricular interprofessional education experience highlighted roles and responsibilities of members of the interprofessional team and resulted in improved scores on the TRR across students' program level, discipline and prior IPE experiences. These findings parallel results from relatively short (<6 hours) interactive interprofessional educational seminar experiences, which demonstrated positive changes in attitudes towards interprofessional learning and collaboration among undergraduate and graduate health professions students (Dahlgren et al, 2018;Gould et al, 2017;Mishoe et al, 2018;Wellmon et al, 2012). Previous research has demonstrated improvement in overall attitudes towards interprofessional education and collaborative practice is possible after IPE focused coursework and our findings highlight similar results with a shorter intervention (Hood et al, 2014;Lairamore et al, 2018;Ruebling et al, 2014).…”

Building great health care teams: enhancing interprofessional work readiness skills, knowledge and values for undergraduate health care students

“…This IPE program deliberately highlighted the patient voice, and the authentic learning opportunities enabled students from seven healthcare disciplines to apply advanced teamwork skills; appropriate and effective IP communication; patient/client centred practice; and articulate the contribution of IP practice to holistic patient care. The program was underpinned by the belief that optimal health outcomes are enabled by effective IP working relationships with learners, practitioners, patients and families (CIHC, 2010;Gould, Day and Barton, 2017).…”