Evaluating Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Collaboration and Education Among Health Professional Learners

Lisa W Christian; Zoha Hassan; Andrew Shure; Kush Joshi; Elaine Lillie; Kevin Fung

doi:10.1007/s40670-020-00931-2

Evaluating Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Collaboration and Education Among Health Professional Learners

Med Sci Educ. 2020 Feb 18;30(1):467-478. doi: 10.1007/s40670-020-00931-2. eCollection 2020 Mar.

Authors

Lisa W Christian¹, Zoha Hassan², Andrew Shure², Kush Joshi², Elaine Lillie³, Kevin Fung⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1 Canada.
² Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 5C1 Canada.
³ School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, 10 Victoria Street South, Kitchener, ON N2G 1C5 Canada.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Western University, 800 Commissioners Road E, London, ON N6A 5W9 Canada.

Abstract

Background: An interprofessional education (IPE) workshop was established to enhance knowledge, skills, and attitudes for health professional learners to engage in interprofessional collaboration (IPC) through group-based activities. This study evaluates the IPC attitudes of learners following the IPE workshop.

Method: Learner attitudes were measured pre- and post-workshop with the validated ICCAS survey for years 2017 and 2018. Areas such as communication and collaboration were assessed using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Results: 161/420 (38%) and 399/446 (89%) of surveys were completed in 2017 and 2018. Median scores were significantly higher post-workshop for both years (p < 0.001). Pre-test differences were observed between Medicine and Pharmacy in both years and post-test differences between Optometry and Nursing in 2018.

Conclusion: Positive outcomes are being observed among learners through IPC educational events. Further research is required to determine whether such activities promote IPC in future practice.

Keywords: Family health team; Healthcare learners; Interprofessional collaboration; Interprofessional education; Primary healthcare.