Medical Students' Perception of Interprofessional Education: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and objectiveInterprofessional education (IPE) involves learners from multiple health professions learning collaboratively to improve patient care. This study assessed medical students' perceptions of IPE at Taibah University in Saudi Arabia.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 319 medical students in years two to six of graduate medical school and internships completed the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) questionnaire between April 2022 and July 2022. RIPLS consists of 19 items measuring teamwork/collaboration, negative/positive professional identity, and roles/responsibilities. Comparisons were made based on gender and academic level by using the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests.ResultsStudents generally expressed positive attitudes towards IPE. The majority agreed that IPE improves teamwork, communication, and patient care. In our cohort, 148 students (46.4%) strongly agreed and 140 (43.9%) agreed that shared learning enhances understanding of clinical problems. However, 186 students (60%) disagreed that clinical problem-solving is profession-specific. On the teamwork/collaboration subscale, 279 students (87.7%) strongly agreed that learning with others makes them more effective team members. Regarding negative identity, 186 students (58.3%) disagreed that learning with other students wastes time. By gender, males had lower ranks for negative identity (p=0.03) and positive identity (p=0.03) versus females. As for academic level, clinical students and interns had higher and lower ranks, respectively, for negative identity (p<0.01).ConclusionBased on our findings, medical students generally hold favorable views toward IPE and recognize its benefits for collaboration, communication, and patient care. Incorporating IPE throughout medical training may further improve attitudes and interprofessional skills.