Understanding Health Professionals' Experiences of Interprofessional Mentored Research During Clinical Training: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Abstract

Background: Interprofessional education is recognized as an important part of the training of future health professionals. Limited investigation has been done on the experiences of students who have completed interprofessional mentored research during their clinical training.

Purpose: To explore if this experience provided meaningful training in key areas of interprofessional education.

Method: Using a qualitative descriptive framework, one-on-one interviews were conducted with eight healthcare providers (three occupational therapists and five speech language pathologists) who engaged in interprofessional research during their clinical training. Qualitative content analysis was completed with triangulation by analyst and member checking.

Conclusion: Three main themes were identified: 1) interprofessional research project collaboration, 2) professional development, and 3) recommendations for student-oriented interprofessional research collaborations. The results illustrated that the health practitioners found their student experiences valuable to their current interprofessional practice and provided salient training on roles and responsibilities, teamwork, and communication.