The effect of interprofessional team-based learning among nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Background: Although interprofessional education has received attention in recent years as a means of providing opportunities for health-care professionals to learn with, from and about other disciplines and enhance the quality of patient care, evidence of its effectiveness is limited. Interprofessional team-based learning was introduced to make it possible for students in different healthcare disciplines to interact with each other, and to prepare them to function effectively within a team in their future career.

Objectives: To examine the effects of interprofessional team-based learning for undergraduate nursing students in terms of knowledge level, readiness for interprofessional learning, attitude towards various aspects of team learning, and perceived collective efficacy.

Design: The study employed a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design.

Methods: An interprofessional education program was given to students from two universities in Hong Kong who were in different healthcare disciplines including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, biomedical science, and Chinese medicine programs. The program was based on four phases of student learning— individual readiness assessment test, ice breaking session, team readiness assessment test, and application exercise. Nursing students involved in the program were invited to complete anonymous questionnaires to evaluate their interprofessional team experience.

Results: A total of 40 nursing students (9 male, 31 female) participated in the study. A statistically significant improvement was identified in their knowledge level (p < 0.001), attitude towards readiness for interprofessional learning, team learning, and perceived collective efficacy (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study suggests that interprofessional team-based learning can enhance cross-disciplinary learning and outcomes resulting from team efforts.