The Relationship Between Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Experience and Interprofessional Attitudes in Students from Health Professions

Interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) can be achieved through purposeful interprofessional education of healthcare students within a clinical environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between past participation of students in IPCP with interprofessional attitudes of students, as measured by the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS). It further examined differences in IPAS based on profession. A Pearson correlation examined association of IPCP experience with IPAS scores. An analysis of covariance evaluated group differences, with post-hoc tests examining pairwise differences. Participants (n=170) consisted of students from medicine, physical therapy, social work, nursing, and pharmacy. A positive relationship existed for IPAS scores and IPCP experiences for medical students and pharmacy students, but no other profession. Medical students scored lower on interprofessional attitudes when compared with other professions. Further, when controlling for IPCP experience, IPAS scores differed between medical students and all other professions for total score as well as the teamwork, roles and responsibilities subdomain. Results indicate that the volume of IPCP experience may have a relationship with interprofessional attitudes among health professional students. Evidence supports the need for continued strategic curricular design to cultivate interprofessional behaviors in students through implementation of greater amounts of IPCP experiences for students.