Future Health Professionals Readiness and Awareness Towards Interprofessional Education in a Health Care Institution of Lahore

Objectives: To measure the level of readiness and awareness of future health professionals about interprofessional education and to evaluate the differences in the readiness towards interprofessional education amongst different disciplines. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study in which a questionnaire “Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale” (RIPLS) was used. Place and Duration of Study: The study, was conducted in June and July 2021 at CMH Lahore medical college, Lahore, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: Using Google forms, a web-based questionnaire “Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale” inventory was emailed to students through their email ID and WhatsApp group. The itemized and total mean scores of all nineteen items of the questionnaire covering the five health professions were compared. SPSS 22 was used for statistical analysis and all responses were analyzed upon 5-point Likert scale. Results: Of the 924 future health professionals 582 completed the questionnaire with a response rate of 63%. The undergraduate students showed positive attitude towards IPE with a global mean score of 74.54±1.139. The overall RIPL mean was above the midpoint score (47.5). Students' ratings were low for two subscales,namely: Roles and Responsibilities and Professional identity, Whereas Teamwork & collaboration subscale showed high ratings. Nursing students showed highly significant mean = 79.4±1.16, whereas dentistry students showed lowest significant mean= 71.4±1.13. Conclusion: Future health Professionals at CMH had a positive attitude towards IPE. Results of present study revealed that nursing undergraduate students appreciated interprofessional education more than the undergraduates of other disciplines. However, dental and medicine undergraduate students indicated minimum readiness and awareness. Result of current study suggests that curriculum developers could consider basic awareness of future health professionals for development of interprofessional education curricula.