Status and Educational Effects of Practical Nursing Training for Medical Students as Part of Interprofessional Education

OBJECTIVES: The WHO has recognized the importance of multidisciplinary education and recommended its promotion worldwide. In our medical school, students experience practical nursing training in their first year to promote multidisciplinary education. Herein, we clarified the learning experiences of medical students during a practical nursing training for enhancing multidisciplinary collaborative education. METHODS: A questionnaire about nursing practice was conducted after training completion. Regarding attitudes during the training, the nurses in charge of shadowing evaluated the students, and the students also evaluated themselves. The survey results were analyzed qualitatively, and the attitude evaluation results quantitatively. RESULTS: There were 76 students who provided informed consent, of whom 55 completed the survey. Three main learning areas were extracted from survey: Nursing treatment, support, and communication activities (7 categories), Nursing care for hospitalized patients (3 categories), Multidisciplinary collaboration through effective communication and coordination (2 categories). On the first training day, the scores of evaluation by others were higher than those of self-evaluation in 6 items. On the second day, the scores of self-evaluation were higher than those of evaluation by others in “Actively learning” and “Communicating appropriately with medical staff and patients.” CONCLUSION: Through the training, students learned about Nursing treatment, support, and communication activities; Nursing care for hospitalized patients; and Multidisciplinary collaboration through effective communication and coordination. The training enabled the students to understand the doctors’ roles in the clinical setting, and to reflect on what doctors should be. Leaning from nursing training is highly beneficial for medical students.