Teamwork: relevance and interdependence of interprofessional education

Spanish version of the readiness for interprofessional learning scale (RIPLS) in an undergraduate health sciences student context

The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) has been widely used to measure students' and professionals' attitudes toward interprofessional learning. However, inconsistencies have been reported concerning its validity and reliability. This study aimed to translate, adapt, and validate the RIPLS questionnaire to be applied to Spanish-speaking health sciences students in Chile. Content and construct validity evidence of the newly created Spanish version of the RIPLS scale were analyzed. An exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) analysis were conducted, determining goodness-of-fit indexes. Reliability was evaluated through Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient. We assessed sensitivity to change of the RIPLS scale by comparing pre- and post-interprofessional education workshop scores. The EFA showed that there were three factors. In the CFA, most of the standardized factor loadings were higher than 0.3. Regarding internal consistency, Cronbach's Alpha was 0.86. The differences between the total RIPLS scores before and after the workshops were statistically significant. The Spanish version of RIPLS showed evidence of validity and reliability for use amongst health sciences students. The construct was adequately measured and was shown that it could be used to assess the impact of interprofessional education workshops.

Formation in Interprofessional Education in Nursing and Medical Students Globally. Scoping review

OBJECTIVES

This work sought to know the state of the art related to the theme of Interprofessional Education (IPE) in the training of Nursing and Medical students and the level of evidence developed thus far.

METHODS

This was an exploratory systematic review, declared as scoping review by the Joanna Briggs Institute, JBI, in which a search was performed in Embase, Science direct, Pubmed-Medline, Academic search complete, BVS, Scopus and ERIC databases, limiting between 2009 - 2019 by using the DeCS and MeSH terms of Interprofessional education, education research, healthcare professionals, nursing and medicine, selecting 39 original articles after carrying out the review process with the criteria by the JBI.

RESULTS

Four thematic nuclei emerged: Experiences and perceptions of interprofessional learning, Didactics related with IPE, Empirical indicators related with IPE, and Development of professional skills. The highest level of evidence is presented by the articles dealing with didactics; on the contrary, no articles were found that dealt with topics related with early inclusion of IPE in the medical and nursing curricula, which are currently necessary to complement the focus of patient-centered care.

CONCLUSIONS

The thematic nuclei show that the level of evidence in the literature is varied, although mostly descriptive in scope, highlighting the development of professional skills as a result of interprofessional education.

Interprofessional training for the delivery of community health services in Mexico: the experience of Partners in Health

Interprofessional training in health is scarce in Mexico. Partners in Health (CES in Spanish), is the branch of an international civil society organization that provides health services to poor and rural populations. CES runs a set of ten health centers in Chiapas, Mexico, in partnership with the local Ministry of Health. A key component of the provision strategy is to train healthcare providers, mainly medical and nursing students in their final year of training, to create healthcare teams that work together while fostering their individual capacities. CES offers a diploma on Global Health and Social Medicine, where medical and nursing students -also called pasantes- interact to discuss jointly the effects of global and social determinants of health in local communities, as well as specific clinical topics. A qualitative study including interviews and nonparticipant observations was undertaken to identify initial achievements and challenges of the experience. CES has achieved important benefits related to teamwork as well as clinical capacities of individuals as healthcare providers. However, challenges have emerged: differences in social origin, personal development expectations, professional identity and institutional roles hinder team cohesion. Consequently, CES has introduced adjustments to reduce the negative impact of these differences. Although the training model needs further development, the possibility of transferring some of its good practices to non-CES scenarios should be seriously considered by health authorities.