Content area
Aim
This study aims to evaluate the impact of interprofessional education on first-year medical and nursing students' attitudes, readiness to learn and interprofessional socialization using a randomized controlled trial.
BackgroundInterprofessional collaboration is crucial in healthcare to enhance patient safety and outcomes. Interprofessional education (IPE) promotes teamwork, communication and understanding of professional roles among healthcare professionals.
DesignThe study was conducted using a randomized controlled pretest-posttest experimental design.
MethodsThe randomized controlled trial was conducted from January to June 2024 at Atatürk University’s Faculties of Medicine and Nursing. The sample consisted of 120 first-year students, randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Data were collected using the "Sociodemographic Information Form,” "Interprofessional Attitude Scale," "Interprofessional Learning Readiness Scale," and "Interprofessional Socialisation and Valuing Scale." The experimental group participated in 16 hours of interprofessional education over four weeks, including simulated patient applications, role-play and group work. The control group continued with standard education without interprofessional training.
ResultsInterprofessional education resulted in significant improvement in students' interprofessional attitudes, particularly among nursing students, whose scores changed positively compared with the control group. Additionally, interprofessional socialization and valuing levels improved significantly in the experimental group. However, no substantial change was observed in the readiness for interprofessional learning in the experimental or control groups.
ConclusionsInterprofessional education had a positive impact on the attitudes and socialization of medical and nursing students, highlighting the importance of incorporating IPE into healthcare curricula to foster collaboration and improve patient care.
Details
Pretesting;
Questionnaires;
Data Collection;
Nursing Education;
College Faculty;
Likert Scales;
Health Personnel;
Job Satisfaction;
Professional Education;
National Standards;
Positive Attitudes;
Integrated Curriculum;
Control Groups;
Outcomes of Treatment;
Medical Education;
Pretests Posttests;
Nursing Students;
Communication Skills;
Educational Change;
Computer Mediated Communication;
Ethics;
Program Implementation;
Beliefs;
Learning Readiness
Collaboration;
Communication;
Patients;
Questionnaires;
University faculty;
Teamwork;
Likert scale;
Medical education;
Role playing;
Occupational roles;
Simulation;
Data integrity;
Learning;
Cooperation;
Interagency collaboration;
Workplace control;
Socialization;
Professionals;
Curricula;
Sociodemographics;
Attitude measures;
Personal information;
Nursing education;
Control groups;
Group work;
Medical personnel;
Nursing;
Clinical trials;
Professional ethics;
Interdisciplinary education;
Professions;
Skills;
Health care;
Academic readiness;
Cronbach's alpha;
Data collection;
Interprofessional education;
Interdisciplinary aspects;
Attitudes;
Medical students;
Roles;
Student attitudes;
Medical schools;
Nurses;
Research design;
Cooperative learning;
Education;
Measures;
Health services;
Medicine
1 Department of Medical Education, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25000, Turkey
2 Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25000, Turkey