Evaluating Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams in the Context of an Interprofessionally-Focused Nursing Course

Background: Nursing students’ attitudes related to health care teams in the context of interprofessional education (IPE) and the impact of these attitudes on IPE and future practice are not fully understood. Purpose: The current study assesses baccalaureate nursing students’ attitudes toward health care teams and evaluates if these attitudes have changed after completion of a nursing course focusing on health care systems from an interprofessional perspective. Method: A convenience sample of 116 undergraduate nursing students in a required interprofessionally-focused course was invited to participate. The Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale Quality of Care subscale (ATHCT-QC) and Team Understanding Scale (TUS) were employed via a pretest-posttest design. Paired samples t-tests were conducted to compare mean scores. Results: Ninety-five respondents (81.8%) voluntarily participated at the beginning and conclusion of the course. Conclusions: There were no significant differences between pretest-posttest attitudes toward interprofessional health care teams. Nurse educators must create and evaluate innovative IPE interventions to enhance students’ preparedness to be effective interprofessional health care team members.