The Impact of an Intervention on the Medical, Dental and Health Sciences Students About Interprofessional Education and Collaboration; A Quasi-experimental Study
Abstract BackgroundInterprofessional education and collaboration (IPEC) fosters patient safety and encompasses integration, communication, mutual trust and shared decision-making. Despite its crucial role, the IPEC has not gained its anticipated popularity. This study aims to determine the impact of an educational intervention about IPEC on medical, dental and health sciences students in the University of Sharjah. 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 the University of Sharjah; 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 IPEC. 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. ResultsOut of 800 students invited to participate in this study, 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 the 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 IPEC during intervention except for a median of 3 for group dynamics.ConclusionIn this study, the present data derived from the application of a brief educational intervention highlight the challenges of IPEC implementation in the medical field. However, the demonstrated student readiness and positive impact of the intervention support the development of a structured curriculum to enhance the receptiveness and application of IPEC in clinical training and practice.