The Trends of Attitude Change and Interprofessional Collaboration Competencies among Medical and Nursing Students of Iran University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background: Nurses’ and physicians’ collaboration is a precedent for patient care. This study examined attitude change and interprofessional collaboration competencies among medical and nursing students of Iran University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This study was quantitative cross-sectional. The study tools were two questionnaires, Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Education and IPEC Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies, which were completed by 211 medical and nursing students in online or in-person forms. The collected quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS 19 software. Results: The results showed that nurses and physicians constituted 35.5% and 64.5% of the sample. The results of the independent T-test displayed no statistically significant difference in the mean age of both groups ( P = 0.054). There was a statistically significant difference in the participants’ attitudes toward interprofessional learning, and the medical group (46.68) obtained a higher mean score than the nurse group (34.92) ( P = 0.001). The two groups with varying mean scores (179.34 for medical students and 131.72 for nursing students) were significantly different in their interpersonal collaboration competencies ( P = 0.001). Considering Mauchly’s test, there were statistically significant differences among medical students of varying academic years in their attitudes toward interprofessional education ( P < 0.001). Nursing students were also different in their attitudes toward interprofessional education based on their academic years. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the attitude of nursing students towards interprofessional education and interpersonal collaboration competencies should be increased in line with medical students in order to improve the quality of medical and health services.