Readiness for interprofessional learning among undergraduate health discipline students: A multisite study

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises interprofessional learning as an effective component of transformative medical education. Health discipline students represent the core disciplines that form the primary collaborative healthcare team in clinical settings. However, the implementation of interprofessional learning within health disciplines in Namibia remains unassessed.
Objectives: To assess and describe the readiness for interprofessional learning among undergraduate health discipline students at three campuses of the University of Namibia.
Method: A quantitative descriptive online survey was conducted to recruit 236 health discipline students through purposive sampling. To allow enough time for data collection, data were collected between May and August 2023, using the validated readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale.
Results: The mean teamwork and collaboration were high at 4.22 ± 1.02, roles and responsibilities had a high score for interprofessional learning readiness at 1.93 ± 0.25, while the professional identity readiness domain was low at 1.40 ± 0.27. Professional identity showed a strong positive correlation with course of study (rho = 0.722; p = 0.010). Teamwork and collaboration (R² = 0.838; p < 0.001) and roles and responsibilities (R² = 0.208; p < 0.001) emerged as the most robust predictors of readiness, accounting for 20% and 83.8% of the variance in readiness.
Conclusion: Using the framework for interprofessional education, the study assessed student readiness and determined that both teamwork and collaboration and roles and responsibilities were the major statistically significant predictors of interprofessional readiness.
Contribution: This study identified predictors of interprofessional collaboration among health discipline students in Namibia.