Translating interprofessional theory to interprofessional practice

Although interprofessional collaborative activities for health professions students have demonstrated increased knowledge of professional roles, interprofessional attitudes and confidence, and team skills; traditional professional role patterns and lack of professional role understanding are still prevalent among health professions students and may continue into professional practice. Between 1 and 10years after they completed their undergraduate studies, practicing community/public health education professionals and registered nurses who participated in an interprofessional patient home-visiting curriculum as undergraduates were surveyed. Most reported current positive attitudes and perceived collaborative abilities regarding interprofessional collaboration. On their perceived interprofessional collaborative abilities, however, community/public health education participants scored significantly higher (t(143)=−2.53, p=0.01) than registered nurse participants. Although it is difficult to generalize the findings from this study to other interprofessional curriculum models, it seems that this curriculum that concentrated on teamwork behaviors and abilities may have contributed to participants' positive translation of interprofessional theory to interprofessional practice. •Most participants reported current positive interprofessional attitudes/abilities.•No significant differences between nurses and health educators on attitude were found.•Significant differences between nurses and health educators on abilities were found.•Curriculum focused on interprofessional abilities and values is recommended.