A mixed methods approach to determine the climate of interprofessional education among medical and health sciences students.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
High-quality patient care is a complex phenomenon that requires collaboration among healthcare professionals. Research has shown that Interprofessional Education (IPE) carries promise to improve collaborative work and patient care. So far, collaboration among various health professionals remains a challenge. Very few focus group discussions to determine the medical students' readiness and positive attitudes towards IPE have been reported from the Arabian context.Methods
A two-staged sequential mixed methods study was conducted among medical, dental, pharmacy, and health sciences students of the University of Sharjah United Arab Emirates. The perspectives of students toward IPE and collaborative practice were first gathered by administering a validated instrument, Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). This was followed by focused group discussions. A quantitative as well as a qualitative data analysis was performed.Results
This study cohort included 282 students. All respondents showed readiness to adopt IPE as all statements of the RIPLS inventory scored high median scores. All participants showed positive attitudes and readiness towards IPE. Three main domains of themes were generated from focus group discussions; prior knowledge, need for IPE framework and its implementation. Information workload, lack of clarity and less focused teaching pedagogies of IPE were considered as perceived barriers.Conclusion
This study demonstrated a substantial agreement of medical and health sciences students towards readiness and perceived effectiveness of IPE. Educators are urged to embed new IPE programs into existing curricular frameworks, which can potentially enhance collaborative learning and improve quality of patient care.
SUBMITTER: Sulaiman N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8035734 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:BackgroundInterprofessional Education (IPE) aims to improve students' attitudes towards collaboration, teamwork, and leads to improved patient care upon graduation. However, the best time to introduce IPE into the undergraduate curriculum is still under debate.MethodsWe used a mixed-methods design based on a sequential explanatory model. Medical students from all six years at the University of Bern, Switzerland (n = 683) completed an online survey about attitudes towards interprofessional learning using a scale validated for German speakers (G-IPAS). Thirty-one medical students participated in nine semi-structured interviews focusing on their experience in interprofessional learning and on the possible impact it might have on their professional development.ResultsWomen showed better attitudes in the G-IPAS across all years (p = 0,007). Pre-clinical students showed more positive attitudes towards IPE [Year 1 to Year 3 (p = 0.011)]. Students correctly defined IPE and its core dimensions. They appealed for more organized IPE interventions throughout the curriculum. Students also acknowledged the relevance of IPE for their future professional performance.ConclusionsThese findings support an early introduction of IPE into the medical curriculum. Although students realise that interprofessional learning is fundamental to high-quality patient care, there are still obstacles and stereotypes to overcome.Trial registrationISRCTN 41715934.
| S-EPMC7577478 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIntroducing students to the "planetary health lenses" perspective is crucial. Comprehensive strategies for teaching this perspective are lacking, especially in the domains of "interconnection within nature (IWN)" and "systems thinking/complexity." There is also a scarcity of studies assessing medical students' opinions on planetary health and evaluating teaching strategies.ObjectiveTo understand Brazilian medical students' perceptions and knowledge of planetary health (PH) and evaluate the application of the educational material "Patient and Clinic through the Lens of Planetary Health," which addresses "IWN" and "complexity" through the sociological lens of Actor-Network Theory, in an integrative course at a medical school in Brazil.MethodsA mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design involving two medical student classes during 2022/2023. Participants completed a questionnaire on sociodemographic data; pre- and post-intervention closed-ended questions about perceptions related to PH, and an open-ended questionnaire on experience and learning. Each student group presented a portfolio under the planetary health lenses regarding a real patient, developing a network diagram that described the social network involving both human and non-human actors with which this person is interconnected. The cohorts participated in "IWN" activities: a contemplative trail or reflection on belonging to the planet.ResultsNinety-six students and 9 professors participated. The majority of students (66.7%) reported significant or extremely significant learning from the sessions. There was an increase in perception of the need for physicians to incorporate PH into their clinical practice (p = 0.002; r = 0.46) and an intensification of the sense of interconnection with the environment (p = 0.003; r = 0.46). There was a gain in knowledge about how many diseases were related to PH (p < 0.02 for all 13 listed diseases). The majority (83%) found the sessions relevant or highly relevant and commented on their impact, both professionally and personally.ConclusionsTeaching PH in a medical school allowed students to learn from the patient's perspective, considering psychosocial and environmental determinants, about the intrinsic interdependence between population's health and PH. This strategy made a significant contribution by proposing pioneering didactics and offering valuable insights into the challenges and nuances of teaching PH.
| S-EPMC10988787 | biostudies-literature
Project description:There is a pressing need to redesign health professions education and integrate an interprofessional and systems approach into training. At the core of interprofessional education (IPE) are creating training synergies across healthcare professions and equipping learners with the collaborative skills required for today's complex healthcare environment. Educators are increasingly experimenting with new IPE models, but best practices for translating IPE into interprofessional practice and team-based care are not well defined. Our study explores current IPE models to identify emerging trends in strategies reported in published studies. We report key characteristics of 83 studies that report IPE activities between 2005 and 2010, including those utilizing qualitative, quantitative and mixed method research approaches. We found a wide array of IPE models and educational components. Although most studies reported outcomes in student learning about professional roles, team communication and general satisfaction with IPE activities, our review identified inconsistencies and shortcomings in how IPE activities are conceptualized, implemented, assessed and reported. Clearer specifications of minimal reporting requirements are useful for developing and testing IPE models that can inform and facilitate successful translation of IPE best practices into academic and clinical practice arenas.
| S-EPMC7594101 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDigital health technologies hold promise to enhance patient-related outcomes, to support health care staff by reducing their workload, and to improve the coordination of care. As key users of digital health technologies, health care workers are crucial to enable a meaningful digital transformation of health care. Digital health literacy and digital skills should become prerequisite competencies for health professionals to facilitate the implementation and leverage the potential of digital technologies to improve health.ObjectiveWe aimed to assess European medical students' perceived knowledge and opinions toward digital health, the status of digital health implementation in medical education, and the students' most pressing needs.MethodsThe explanatory design of our mixed methods study was based on an online, anonymous, self-administered survey targeted toward European medical students. A linear regression analysis was used to identify the influence of the year of medical studies on the responses. Additional analysis was performed by grouping the responses by the self-evaluated frequency of eHealth technology use. Written responses to four qualitative questions in the survey were analyzed using an inductive approach.ResultsThe survey received a total of 451 responses from 39 European countries, and there were respondents for every year of medical studies. The majority of respondents saw advantages in the use of digital health. While 40.6% (183/451) felt prepared to work in a digitized health care system, more than half (240/451, 53.2%) evaluated their eHealth skills as poor or very poor. Medical students considered lack of education to be the reason for this, with 84.9% (383/451) agreeing or strongly agreeing that more digital health education should be implemented in the medical curriculum. Students demanded introductory and specific eHealth courses covering data management, ethical aspects, legal frameworks, research and entrepreneurial opportunities, role in public health and health systems, communication skills, and practical training. The emphasis lay on tailoring learning to future job requirements and interprofessional education.ConclusionsThis study shows a lack of digital health-related formats in medical education and a perceived lack of digital health literacy among European medical students. Our findings indicate a gap between the willingness of medical students to take an active role by becoming key players in the digital transformation of health care and the education that they receive through their faculties.
| S-EPMC7455864 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Society demands a university education grounded on ethical principles. Education in ethics values is responsibility of universities but will not be viable unless also adopted by directly responsible agents, the teachers who work with the students. For this reason, our primary research objective was to conduct an in-depth analysis of how Health Sciences students self-perceive the ethical dimension. METHODS:A mixed research methodology with two phases, qualitative and quantitative, allowed us to address our research question from two complementary viewpoints. Conversational interviews were conducted in an intentional and purposive sample to identify a wide range of discursive representations. A questionnaire was designed based on previous studies and the topics of qualitative research. The response format for the questionnaire followed a Likert scale and modulators such as sex, age, degree and the score of a social desirability test were examined. RESULTS:After 24 conversational interviews, three main thematic blocks (coinciding with the three subscales of the questionnaire) were identified: "attitudes for harmony in human relations", "construction of the self" and "rules and regulations". A total of 246 students completed a questionnaire with 39 items. The total scores ranged from 93 to 152 points, with an average score of 122.72?±?10.64 points. Responsibility, the basic rules of education and respect were perceived as the two most important values, whereas solidarity and social participation as the least important. Results showed a significant positive linear correlation between total score on the questionnaire and age and social desirability. Age was also a significant predictor for the total score and the subscale score "rules and regulations". The students´ responses seemed to be conditioned by the degree of social desirability that they present. CONCLUSIONS:The ad-hoc questionnaire captured the maintenance of high ethical values in our college undergraduate students, which may be directly related to enhanced social desirability. The scores obtained on the questionnaire were correlated with the students' age, which may indicate that values might tend to acquire progressively more importance as students grow older. Further research is warranted to delve deeper on the determinants of professionalism and ethical decision-making in college students.
| S-EPMC6278160 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeInterprofessional communication skills are an essential competency for medical students training to be physicians. Nevertheless, interprofessional education (IPE) is relatively rare in Korean medical schools compared with those overseas. We attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of the first IPE program in our school.MethodsIn the first semester of the school year 2018, third-grade medical students (N=149) at the Seoul National University College of Medicine participated in 'communication between healthcare professionals in the clinical field' training, which consisted of small group discussions and role-play. To evaluate the effectiveness of this training, we conducted pre- and post-training questionnaire surveys. Comparing paired t-tests, we evaluated the students' competency in interpersonal communication and their attitude towards the importance of IPE before and after the training. The Global Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (GICC-15) was used to evaluate competency in interpersonal communication.ResultsOut of 149 students, 144 completed the pre- and post-training questionnaires. The total GICC-15 scores before and after training were 55.60±6.94 (mean±standard deviation) and 58.89±7.34, respectively (p=0.000). All subcategory scores of GICC-15 after training were higher after training and were statistically significant (p<0.05), except for two subcategories. The importance of IPE score also improved after training but was not significant (p=0.159). The appropriateness of content and training method scores were 3.99±0.92 and 3.94±1.00, respectively.ConclusionFrom the results, our school's IPE program demonstrated a positive overall educational effect. Deployment of systematic and varied IPE courses is expected in the future, with more longitudinal evaluation of educational effect.
| S-EPMC6589613 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundInterprofessional education (IPE) encompasses integration, communication, mutual trust and shared decision-making with a common goal of improved patient care and safety. Despite its crucial role, IPE has not gained its anticipated popularity. This study aims to determine the impact of an online educational intervention about IPE on medical, dental and health sciences students in the University of Sharjah (UoS).MethodsThis quasi-experimental research was conducted in three phases; a pre-intervention phase where the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) inventory was administered online to the medical, dental and health sciences students of UoS; an intervention phase where an online workshop was organized via Microsoft Teams®; and a post-intervention phase where RIPLS was used to gather the students' attitudes towards IPE. The independent t test was used to compare the responses between genders and junior and senior students. A paired sample t test was used to determine the impact of the intervention on the students' understandings and attitudes about IPE.ResultsOut of 800 invited students, 530 students responded to the pre-intervention RIPLS survey. A comparison of the pre-post intervention for the RIPLS subscales of teamwork and collaboration, professional identification, and professional roles showed a significant improvement of students' attitudes with p-values 0.03, 0.00 and 0.00, respectively. All workshop moderators scored a median of 4 or 5 to the essential elements of IPE during intervention except for a median of 3 for group dynamics.ConclusionThe present data, derived from the application of a brief online educational intervention, underpins the readiness and positive attitudes of undergraduate medical students towards IPE. The positive impact of online intervention necessitates the development of a structured and unified IPE curriculum to enhance the receptiveness and application of IPE in the medical field.
| S-EPMC8403513 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Objectives:Interprofessional Education (IPE) provides an environment where learners demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitude required to manage the complex clinical scenarios in a collaborative and interprofessional manner. The actual sphere of influence of Interprofessional Education in many medical schools has been limited. Therefore, the present study aim was to evaluate the medical students' readiness and perception of Interprofessional Education in a medical college in Saudi Arabia. Methods:This questionnaire based cross sectional study was executed in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University during the period September 2016 to December 2017, using the 19-item Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) with four subscales teamwork and collaboration, negative professional identity, positive professional identity and roles and responsibilities. The questionnaire was e-mailed to 1411 medical students and responses were analyzed using 5-point Likert scale. Results:A total of 158 medical students and trainees responded to the survey, 69 (43.6%) were males and 89 (56.4%) were females. The majority of participants 122-148 (77-94%) acknowledged the positive impact of IPE on teamwork and collaboration, more than two thirds 105 (64.45%) disagreed with negative attitude and 110-126 (70-80%) showed positive professional identity. Conclusions:Medical students showed a positive perception and ready to adopt the Interprofessional Educational allied activities in medical schools. The shared academic events would improve in clarifying the roles and responsibilities of medical students in health care professions.
| S-EPMC7260887 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionMany physicians do not feel competent providing nutritional counseling to patients. A minimum of 25 hours dedicated to nutrition is recommended in preclinical years, but only 40% of U.S. medical schools achieve this goal. Nutrition counseling is best done when physicians work collaboratively with registered dietitians (RDs). We sought to introduce this interprofessional approach in our preclinical curriculum.MethodsIn our first-year doctoring course, students viewed a nutrition lecture from a physician and RD. Teams of two to three medical students and one dietetics student were formed. The medical students took a history and performed nutrition counseling on the dietetics student role-playing a patient. The RD student provided feedback and reviewed clinical questions pertaining to the nutrition case. Medical students presented answers to their assigned case to the whole group. Medical students completed pre-/postsurveys assessing satisfaction and perceived confidence with nutrition counseling and were formally assessed using a standardized patient. The scores were compared to students from the year before who received the lecture but not the RD student activity.ResultsEighty-one medical students participated. After the activity, there was an increase in confidence with nutrition counseling (p < .001), and 74% found working with dietetics students to be helpful or extremely helpful. The nutrition counseling mean score increased from 68% (historical control, n = 76) to 84% (n = 75; p < .001) on the standardized patient assessment.DiscussionThis format is an effective method of teaching nutrition counseling and promoting interprofessional behavior among rising physicians and RDs.
| S-EPMC6342344 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The aim of the course "interprofessional communication and nursing" is to reflect medical students' experiences from the nursing internship. The content of the course focuses on barriers and support of interprofessional communication as a foundation for teamwork between nursing professionals and physicians. The nursing internship is for most medical students the first contact with nursing professionals and can lead to perceptions about the other group that might hinder interprofessional teamwork and consequently harm patients. To meet the demographic challenges ahead it is important to emphasize interprofessional education in the study of medicine and better prepare future physicians for interprofessional collaboration.The design of the course includes an assessment of a change in the students' perceptions about nursing and interprofessional communication. The first class meeting presents the starting point of the assessment and visualizes students' perceptions of nursing and medicine. The content of the following class meetings serve to enhance the students' knowledge about nursing as a profession with its own theories, science and scholarship. In addition, all students have to write a research paper that entails to interview one nursing professional and one physician about their ideas of interprofessional communication and to compare the interviews with their own experiences from the nursing internship. To access what students learned during the course a reflective discussion takes place at the last meeting combined with an analysis of the students' research papers.The assessment of the students' perceptions about the nursing profession and the importance of successful interprofessional communication showed a new and deeper understanding of the topic. They were able to identify barriers and support measures of interprofessional communication and their own responsibilities as part of a team.Interprofessional education is an important part of medical education and should be a topic from the beginning. The assessment of the course shows that it is possible and important to integrate the topic early in the curriculum.
| S-EPMC4895841 | biostudies-other