Readiness of allied health students towards interprofessional education at a university in Ghana

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education (IPE) is an important academic approach for preparing healthcare students to provide patient care in a collaborative team environment, which improves patient care outcomes and increases patient satisfaction. IPE has been shown to eliminate segmented education between healthcare professionals, and thus renounces hierarchies, misperceptions and miscommunicationsOBJECTIVES: To determine the readiness of allied health students towards IPEMETHODS: This was a cross-sectional study that involved 299 second- to fourth-year allied health students recruited from various departments at the University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale was used to obtain data regarding readiness of allied health students towards IPE. Data obtained were analysed using SPSS version 22 (IBM Corp., USA). Differences between groups based on the levels and programmes of study, respectively, were determined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVARESULTS: The majority of participants (n=155; 67.7%) had previous experience in the health environment. The overall response of allied health students' readiness towards IPE was high. This readiness did not differ between the different levels of study (p=0.985) and the various programmes of study (p=0.726CONCLUSION: The study revealed that allied health students value teamwork and collaboration and appear ready for participation in IPE activities. Formatively planning IPE activities may be helpful in developing multidisciplinary teamwork

Related collections

Most cited references 11

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

The development of a questionnaire to assess the readiness of health care students for interprofessional learning (RIPLS).

G Parsell, J Bligh (1999)

Although shared learning activities are gradually being introduced to health care undergraduates, it has not been possible to measure the effects of educational interventions on students' attitudes. The main objective of this study was to develop a rating scale using items based on the desired outcomes of shared learning, to assess the 'readiness' of health care students for shared learning activities. A questionnaire study of 120 undergraduate students in 8 health care professions. Principal components analysis resulted a 3-factor scale with 19 items and having an internal consistency of 0.9. The factors have been initially named 'team-working and collaboration', 'professional-identity' and 'professional roles'. The new scale may be used to explore differences in students' perception and attitudes towards multi-professional learning. Further work is necessary to validate the scale amongst a larger population.

0 comments Cited 148 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Interprofessional attitudes amongst undergraduate students in the health professions: a longitudinal questionnaire survey.

Samantha Coster, Ian Norman, Trevor Murrells … (2008)

Interprofessional education (IPE) introduced at the beginning of pre-registration training for healthcare professionals attempts to prevent the formation of negative interprofessional attitudes which may hamper future interprofessional collaboration. However, the potential for IPE depends, to some extent, on the readiness of healthcare students to learn together. To measure changes in readiness for interprofessional learning, professional identification, and amount of contact between students of different professional groups; and to examine the influence of professional group, student characteristics and an IPE course on these scores over time. Annual longitudinal panel questionnaire survey at four time-points of pre-registration students (n=1683) drawn from eight healthcare groups from three higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK. The strength of professional identity in all professional groups was high on entry to university but it declined significantly over time for some disciplines. Similarly students' readiness for interprofessional learning was high at entry but declined significantly over time for all groups, with the exception of nursing students. A small but significant positive relationship between professional identity and readiness for interprofessional learning was maintained over time. There was very minimal contact between students from different disciplines during their professional education programme. Students who reported gaining the least from an IPE course suffered the most dramatic drop in their readiness for interprofessional learning in the following and subsequent years; however, these students also had the lowest expectations of an IPE course on entry to their programme of study. The findings provide support for introducing IPE at the start of the healthcare students' professional education to capitalise on students' readiness for interprofessional learning and professional identities, which appear to be well formed from the start. However, this study suggests that students who enter with negative attitudes towards interprofessional learning may gain the least from IPE courses and that an unrewarding experience of such courses may further reinforce their negative attitudes.

0 comments Cited 55 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Understanding students’ readiness for interprofessional learning in an Asian context: a mixed-methods study

Endang Sri Lestari, Renée Stalmeijer, Doni Widyandana … (2016)

Background Healthcare is generally provided by various health professionals acting together. Unfortunately, poor communication and collaboration within such healthcare teams often prevent its members from actively engaging in collaborative decision-making. Interprofessional education (IPE) which prepares health professionals for their collaborative role in the healthcare system may partially address this problem. This study aimed to investigate: 1) students’ readiness for IPE in an Asian context, 2) the most important factors influencing students’ perceptions of IPE, 3) the reasons underlying such perceptions, and 4) the factors mitigating or promoting their sense of readiness. Methods To identify students’ perceptions of IPE, we administered the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) to 398 in approximately 470 students from a range of health professions (medicine, nursing, midwifery and dentistry). The questionnaire included factors that could potentially influence readiness for IPE as found in the literature (GPA, etc.). To enhance our understanding of the responses to the RIPLS and to explore the reasons underlying them, we conducted 4 mono-professional focus group discussions (FGDs). We ran a statistical analysis on the quantitative data, while performing a thematic content analysis of the qualitative data using ATLAS.ti (version 7). Results Medical students seemed to be the most prepared for IPE. Students’ perceptions of IPE were conditioned by the study programme they took, their GPA, intrinsic motivation and engagement in the student council connoting experience of working with students from different programmes. Focus groups further revealed that: 1) early exposure to clinical practice triggered both positive and negative perceptions of IPE and of its importance to learning communication and leadership skills, 2) medical students caused insecurity and disengagement in other students, 3) medical students felt pressured to be leaders, and 4) there was a need to clarify and understand each other’s profession and the boundaries of one’s own profession. Conclusion Students were generally favourable to IPE, appreciating the opportunity it offered them to hone their interprofessional leadership, collaboration and communication skills and to learn to address the problem of role blurring. Hence, we judge the Asian context ready to implement IPE, allowing health professions students in Asian countries to reap its benefits. The present study revealed several important reasons underlying students’ positive and negative perceptions of IPE implementation which may be addressed during the interprofessional learning process. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0704-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

0 comments Cited 27 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (publisher-id): ajhpe

Title: African Journal of Health Professions Education

Abbreviated Title: Afr. J. Health Prof. Educ. (Online)

Publisher: Health and Medical Publishing Group (Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa )

ISSN (Electronic): 2078-5127

Publication date (Print and electronic): June 2020

Volume: 12

Issue: 2

Pages: 86-89

Affiliations

[02] Accra orgnameDepartment of Physiotherapy orgdiv1Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Ghana

[04] Kumasi orgnameKomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital orgdiv1Department of Physiotherapy Ghana

[01] orgnameUniversity of Ghana orgdiv1College of Health Sciences orgdiv2School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences Accra

[03] Sogakope orgnameWest Africa Football Academy Ghana

Article

Publisher ID: S2078-51272020000200007 Publisher ID: S2078-5127(20)01200200007

DOI: 10.7196/AJHPE.2020.v12i2.1243

SO-VID: 9a6dbe8d-cf27-4dc1-a022-ad78d96e1f55

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Readiness of allied health students towards interprofessional education at a university in Ghana

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

SciELO South Africa

Most cited references 11

The development of a questionnaire to assess the readiness of health care students for interprofessional learning (RIPLS).

Interprofessional attitudes amongst undergraduate students in the health professions: a longitudinal questionnaire survey.

Understanding students’ readiness for interprofessional learning in an Asian context: a mixed-methods study

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Page count

Product

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 465

Cited by 1

Most referenced authors 136