The Effects of the Interprofessional Education on Readiness for Interprofessional Learning of Health Science Students

Abstract

Although interprofessional program has been bloomed in developed countries, it remains unclear how
should it be in developing countries? The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of interprofessional
education on readiness for interprofessional learning among Thai health science students. This was a quasiexperimental design. Samples were 47 Thai health science students from nursing, Thai traditional medicine,
and public health programs. The program took 5 days. Activities included: group relationship building,
learning about interprofessional skills, preparing a care plan for patient, and presenting their experiences.
All samples were measured readiness for interprofessional learning before and after the program. The
results of the study reported that after attending the program, samples had significantly higher total scores
of readiness for interprofessional learning and scores in each dimension: teamwork and collaboration;
negative and positive professional identities, and roles and responsibilities. It can be concluded that the
short interprofessional education program could improve readiness for interprofessional learning among
health science students