Healthcare Undergraduates' Attitudes and Readiness Toward Interprofessional Education at a Saudi University.

OBJECTIVE

Interprofessional education (IPE) is widely recognized as an effective practice in healthcare education that helps healthcare students understand different professional roles, and values related to collaboration, teamwork, and leadership within healthcare teams. This study was conducted to measure attitudes and readiness for IPE among healthcare students at Taif University and to explore any differences in students' attitudes in relation to their healthcare program, year of study and other related factors.

METHODS

Healthcare undergraduates participated in a cross-sectional study conducted from January 2024 to March 2024. Data was collected electronically by filling out an electronic version of The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), which was sent to students in advanced years of study, 3 year and higher, depending on the program. Data was analyzed descriptively and statistically using appropriate univariate and bivariate analyses.

RESULTS

A total of 263 healthcare students participated in the study (68.8% female, 31.2% male), and the majority were from pharmacy program (55.1%), followed by nursing (25.1%) and medicine (19.8%). The overall RIPLS score for all students was 76.58, indicating positive attitudes towards IPE. The RIPLS score differed significantly (P=0.01) in relation to the program of study, with nursing students showing the highest readiness (77.59), and medical students showed the least (73.56). For the other factors, no significant difference was found in RIPLS scores in relation to gender, clinical training experience, attending previous IPE sessions, or the year of study.

CONCLUSION

Attitudes and readiness for IPE among healthcare undergraduates at Taif University were positive, particularly among nursing students. The reasons behind differences in readiness for IPE among programs need further investigation by researchers and healthcare educators. Offering introductory sessions to introduce the concept of IPE to healthcare programs with lower readiness might be helpful to raise students' awareness of the value of IPE.