CLINICAL INTER-PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES: HEALTH SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR EXPERIENCES

M.V. Ntsiea¹, V. Naidoo¹, F. Adams², V. Mokokotlela³, P. Barnard-Ashton⁴

¹University of the Witwatersrand, Physiotherapy, Johannesburg, South Africa, ²University of the Witwatersrand, Occupational Therapy, Johannesburg, South Africa, ³University of the Witwatersrand, Family Medicine, Johannesburg, South Africa, ⁴University of the Witwatersrand, eFundanathi, Johannesburg, South Africa

Background: Students from different health disciplines should learn together during certain periods of their education to acquire skills necessary for solving the health problems.

Purpose: The Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Witwatersrand created inter-professional education (IPE) activities for students to assess clinical IPE groups’ perceptions of IPE experiences and to identify lessons learnt during IPE sessions.

Methods: This was a qualitative study with review of the students’ post IPE feedback forms. Study population was all fourth year students from Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Medicine, Clinical associates, Pharmacy, Biokinetics, Dentistry, Nursing, Oral hygiene and Speech &Audiology departments (n = 419). Students were granted ‘protected time’ of three full days over a period of two months to participate in IPE. The same clinical IPE activity was repeated three times with three groups of students. The data was subjected to thematic analysis, to identify common categories and themes that emerged from the students’ responses.

Results: Three hundred and eight (73,5%) of the 419 students allocated to clinical IPE activity attended. Most students felt that knowledge about health team members was gained and that IPE groups should have more than one person from each field with the same level of clinical exposure. The students indicated the need to have regular IPE activities and if possible, to incorporate this into clinical practice for them to experience it in daily clinical practice.

Conclusions: Participating in the IPE activity results in improved appreciation and respect for other health professionals' roles and scope. Group composition for IPE activities should be kept in mind to cater for the learning needs of all students.

Implications: Having IPE activities where team members can gain knowledge about each another’s roles no matter how small the activity, should be encouraged as this can improve patient
care because of the chances of improved teamwork

Funding acknowledgements: No research funding

Keywords:
Health Sciences Inter-professional education
Inter-professional learning
Perceptions, Experiences

Topics:
Education: methods of teaching & learning
Education: clinical
Education

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of the Witwatersrand

Committee: Human Research and Ethics Committee

Ethics number: M170380