A cross-institutional examination of readiness for interprofessional learning

Happy New Year from everyone at the Journal of Interprofessional Care!

Great article exploring a cross-institutional examination of readiness for interprofessional learning. 
Written by: Sharla King (Health Sciences Education and Research Commons, University of Alberta, 

Edmonton, AB

, Canada, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, 

Edmonton, AB

, Canada), Elaine Greidanus (Health Sciences Education and Research Commons, University of Alberta, 

Edmonton, AB

, Canada), Rochelle Major (Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, 

Edmonton, AB

, Canada), Tatiana Loverso (Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, 

Edmonton, AB

, Canada), Alan Knowles (Department of Social Work, MacEwan University, Edmonton, 

Alberta

, Canada), Mike Carbonaro (Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, 

Edmonton, AB

, Canada), Louise Bahry (Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, 

Edmonton, AB

, Canada).

This paper examines the readiness for and attitudes toward interprofessional (IP) education in students across four diverse educational institutions with different educational mandates. The four educational institutions (research-intensive university, baccalaureate, polytechnical institute and community college) partnered to develop, deliver and evaluate IP modules in simulation learning environments. As one of the first steps in planning, the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale was delivered to 1530 students from across the institutions. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to expand upon previous work to examine psychometric properties of the instrument. An analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the institutions; however, a closer examination of the means demonstrated little variability. In an environment where collaboration and development of learning experiences across educational institutions is an expectation of the provincial government, an understanding of differences among a cohort of students is critical. This study reveals nonmeaningful significant differences, indicating different institutional educational mandates are unlikely to be an obstacle in the development of cross-institutional IP curricula.

For more information, please read the Journal of Interprofessional Care, Early Online: http://informahealthcare.com/toc/jic/0/0