Abstract
Background
Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare professionals promotes patient-centred care. Interprofessional learning (IPL) in undergraduate healthcare curricula aims to improve effective collaboration between students from different professions to promote patient-centred medicine. The challenge of how we prepare students for interprofessional collaborative practice raises the question of what educators and students perceive in the value of IPL as a promoter of patient-centred collaborative learning.
Methods
A workshop on safe prescribing was co-created within an interprofessional group of colleagues from the MPharm and MBChB Programmes, involving fourth-year students. Following the workshop, students and educators completed a survey comparing their perspectives on IPL’s value in engaging students in experiential collaborative learning.
Results
Of 81 MPharm and 59 MBChB students, 33 (40.7%) and 32 (54.2%) completed the survey respectively. Students and educators acknowledged the value of IPL workshop in increasing awareness of other professional roles, skills development, and importance of teamwork in patient care. Educators perceived the session as having the goal of improving patient care. MBChB students viewed the activity as an opportunity to learn skills and MPharm students as improving their professional development. However, there was a lack of correlation between students perceived benefits of the IPL session to themselves and patient care.
Conclusion
MBChB students perceived IPL as exchanging competencies, not enhancing interprofessional practice, even though they thought IPL benefited healthcare professionals and interprofessional caring benefited patients. MPharm students, on the contrary, viewed IPL as promoting interprofessional practice and recognised the importance of multidisciplinary teams to improve patients’ care. The lack of student awareness that IPL sessions are the first steps towards interprofessional collaboration and enhanced patient-centred care could be a barrier to embracing collaboration as professionals after graduation. Educators should emphasise this point to students as part of the learning outcomes of IPL.
Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare professionals promotes patient-centred care. Interprofessional learning (IPL) in undergraduate healthcare curricula aims to improve effective collaboration between students from different professions to promote patient-centred medicine. The challenge of how we prepare students for interprofessional collaborative practice raises the question of what educators and students perceive in the value of IPL as a promoter of patient-centred collaborative learning.
Methods
A workshop on safe prescribing was co-created within an interprofessional group of colleagues from the MPharm and MBChB Programmes, involving fourth-year students. Following the workshop, students and educators completed a survey comparing their perspectives on IPL’s value in engaging students in experiential collaborative learning.
Results
Of 81 MPharm and 59 MBChB students, 33 (40.7%) and 32 (54.2%) completed the survey respectively. Students and educators acknowledged the value of IPL workshop in increasing awareness of other professional roles, skills development, and importance of teamwork in patient care. Educators perceived the session as having the goal of improving patient care. MBChB students viewed the activity as an opportunity to learn skills and MPharm students as improving their professional development. However, there was a lack of correlation between students perceived benefits of the IPL session to themselves and patient care.
Conclusion
MBChB students perceived IPL as exchanging competencies, not enhancing interprofessional practice, even though they thought IPL benefited healthcare professionals and interprofessional caring benefited patients. MPharm students, on the contrary, viewed IPL as promoting interprofessional practice and recognised the importance of multidisciplinary teams to improve patients’ care. The lack of student awareness that IPL sessions are the first steps towards interprofessional collaboration and enhanced patient-centred care could be a barrier to embracing collaboration as professionals after graduation. Educators should emphasise this point to students as part of the learning outcomes of IPL.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Jul 2025 |