Exploring perceptions of medical students about interprofessional education (IPE): a qualitative study

Abstract

Background

Integration of clinical medicine and other subjects has laid more emphasis on the cultivation of high-quality medical talents, with the increasing demand for interprofessional education (IPE). IPE has been promoted by a number of universities to create and sustain authentic IPE activities, with which students can engage. Although IPE has achieved certain results, there are still many problems. Many studies focused on the perspective of educators without understanding the essential needs and experience of students. This study intends to focus on the implementation of IPE from the perspective of medical students.

Purpose

To describe the interprofessional experiences of medical students and provide a reference for the development of interprofessional education programs for medical students.

Methods

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted in 2023, using purposive sampling to select medical students who had interprofessional learning experiences for semi-structured interviews. The study used a phenomenological approach and Colaizzi’s phenomenological method for analyzing and summarizing the interprofessional experiences and perceptions to extract themes.

Results

The interprofessional experiences of medical students were distilled into five themes: “cognition and attitude”, “practice and collaboration”, “motivation and drive”, “difficulty and challenge”, and “expectation and vision”. Students reported their experience and found interprofessional learning beneficial for broadening their horizon and building harmonious healthcare teams. Based on the experience of interprofessional learning, students also put forward expectations and ideas for IPE especially for medical students.

Conclusion

Each institution should establish a complete interprofessional education system in accordance with the professional education system of students, to achieve interprofessional education for medical students that adapts to the national conditions of China, and to better improve the overall quality of future medical service teams, to achieve patient-centered high-quality care experience.

Trial registration

Not applicable.