Exploring medical students' attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration between different types of healthcare professionals
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN41715934 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN41715934 |
| ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT) | Nil known |
| Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) | Nil known |
| Protocol serial number | BEJD-2-20 |
| Sponsor | Inselspital |
| Funder | Inselspital |
- Submission date
- 03/12/2019
- Registration date
- 12/12/2019
- Last edited
- 23/10/2020
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
For the past twenty years, patient care has moved its focus away from acute diseases, which are managed in a hospital setting, to chronic conditions, which are usually dealt with in the community and attend to health-related quality of life issues. Such a shift means that patients now rely more on complex systems involving different health professionals. Both patients and caregivers experience distressing situations because of poor communication and collaboration between all the health professionals providing the treatment and this usually results in a lack of continuity of care.
Healthcare focuses on team-based practice and interprofessional collaboration (IPE), and supporting such teamwork has been shown to lead to better patient care. IPE in medical schools will improve attitudes toward teamwork and collaboration, leading to improved patient care upon graduation. However, the appropriate timing to introduce IPE is not known. Additionally, at the University of Bern, medical students' attitudes towards IPE are not known. This study addresses this gap by analyzing medical student's attitudes towards IPE and establishing the best time to introduce such an intervention.
Who can participate?
All medical students from the year 2019/2020 enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland, are eligible for study inclusion.
What does the study involve?
A survey of medical student's attitudes towards interprofessional learning at different stages of their training. After filling in the questionnaire, interviews will be conducted to explore which ideas medical students have towards enhancing interprofessional education and how students feel about interprofessional learning interventions.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
No direct benefits or risks are anticipated.
Where is the study run from?
Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
October 2019 to June 2020
Who is funding the study?
Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland
Who is the main contact?
Joana Berger-Estilita
joana.berger-estilita@insel.ch
Contact information
Scientific
Freiburgstrasse 8-10
Bern
3010
Switzerland
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-8695-4264 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +41 (0) 788438161 |
| joana.berger-estilita@insel.ch |
Study information
| Primary study design | Observational |
|---|---|
| Study design | Observational cross-sectional study |
| Secondary study design | Cross sectional study |
| Study type | Participant information sheet |
| Scientific title | Attitudes from medical students towards interprofessional collaboration: a mixed-methods study |
| Study acronym | GIPAS |
| Study objectives | Research questions: 1. In which phase of their training do medical students have a more positive attitude towards interprofessional collaboration? 2. What ideas do medical students have towards enhancing interprofessional education? 3. How strongly do students feel about interprofessional learning interventions? |
| Ethics approval(s) | Confirmed that ethics approval not required 07/08/2019, Kantonale Ethikkomission (KEK) Bern [Bernese Cantonal Ethics Committee] (Murtenstrasse 31, 3010 Bern, Switzerland; +41 31 633 7070; info.kek.kapa@gef.be.ch), ref: Req-2019-00743 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Medical students' attitudes towards interprofessional learning |
| Intervention | The study design is a sequential quantitative to qualitative mixed-methods design (MMD) based on a sequential explanatory model (Schifferdecker & Reed, 2009). An initial quantitative survey will seek to gather information on medical students' attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration by conducting an online survey with students at different stages of their training. Attitudes will be measured with the use of the German Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (G-IPAS) in a non-experimental fashion. The original IPAS has 27 survey questions that load into 5 subscales (Norris et al., 2015): 1. Teamwork, roles and responsibilities (TRR) 2. Patient-centeredness (PC) 3. Interprofessional bias (IB) 4. Diversity and ethics (DE) 5. Community-centeredness (CC) The original American scale with five subscales was translated and culturally adapted and validated, giving rise to the G-IPAS. This validation process lead to the deletion of the subscale 'Interprofessional Bias' and re-distribution of items from subscale 'Diversity and Ethics' to the remaining three subscales: 'Teamwork, Roles and Responsibilities', 'Patient-centeredness' and the renamed subscale 'Health Care Provision'. A descriptive analysis of the survey data will be conducted. Global scale and individual items will be assessed for normal distribution with Shapiro-Wilks test and visual assessment of residuals and Q-Q Plots. A sub-group analysis per year of studies will be performed. Establishing statistical significance of the relationships between variables will be performed using the Chi-square test. Correlation analysis will also be attempted. A statistician will be involved to oversee the data analysis. All quantitative data will be analysed using SPSS v23. The findings from the initial quantitative data analysis will be used to guide and further explore themes in a qualitative approach (Schifferdecker & Reed, 2009). A format will be developed for semi-structured interviews to examine how individual trainees experience interprofessional collaboration and the impact this has on their own professional development. Data from the semi-structured interviews will be processed according to the Miles and Huberman (2014) data analysis framework. This includes data reduction (with editing, segmenting and summarizing the data), then data display and finally verifying conclusions. Coding will be done first with descriptive and then with pattern codes. Memoing will be performed parallel to coding. MaxQDA software (VERBI, 2017) will be used to perform this analysis. Quantitative phase: Attitudes towards interprofessional learning will be measured with the use of the German Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (G-IPAS) in a non-experimental fashion. Students will receive an e-mail with the link to the survey, posted online in the Surveymonkey (R) platform. The platform will be open from 07th October to 15th December 2019. Up to 2 reminders will be sent. Qualitative phase: The second component is qualitative methods design using semi-structured interviews with medical students with the aim to explore the findings of the quantitative research. At the end of the online survey G-IPAS questionnaire, students will have the opportunity to tick a box signalling their availability to take part in a semi-structured interview group. Students who agree to participate will be invited to a 60-minute semi-structured interview, to be planned at a convenient date. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure(s) |
Attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration assessed using the German Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (G-IPAS) |
| Key secondary outcome measure(s) |
Students' experiences and views about interprofessional education and collaboration between medical students and other healthcare groups assessed using semi-structured interviews designed using results from the online survey. They will seek to answer research questions such as "What ideas do medical students have towards enhancing interprofessional education?" and "How strongly do students feel about interprofessional learning interventions?". |
| Completion date | 30/06/2020 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Other |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Sex | All |
| Target sample size at registration | 600 |
| Total final enrolment | 683 |
| Key inclusion criteria | All medical students from the year 2019/2020 enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland, are eligible for study inclusion. |
| Key exclusion criteria | 1. Non-medical students from the University of Bern 2. Students from other medical Faculties |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/10/2019 |
| Date of final enrolment | 15/12/2019 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Switzerland
Study participating centre
Bern
3010
Switzerland
Results and Publications
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
|---|---|
| IPD sharing plan summary | Available on request |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are/will be available from Joana Berger-Estilita, joana.berger-estilita@insel.ch, from November 2020 for a period of 10 years, upon reasonable request. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | results | 21/10/2020 | 23/10/2020 | Yes | No |
| Participant information sheet | Participant information sheet | 11/11/2025 | 11/11/2025 | No | Yes |
Editorial Notes
23/10/2020: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. Publication reference added.
2. The total final enrolment was added.
06/12/2019: Trial's existence confirmed by Kantonale Ethikkomission (KEK) Bern [Bernese Cantonal Ethics Committee].
