Suggestions for interprofessional educational courses from a students' perspective – a qualitative study

Purpose: The significance of interprofessional education (IPE) for interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and thus optimal patient care is widely recognised. As a starting point for a needs-based IPE development, we conducted focus groups interviews with students of different health professions. We assessed experiences with IPE and IPC, ascertained resulting IPE needs, and discussed opportunities for curricular implementation, to meet long-term challenges to health care. Methods: Using semi-structured interview guides, we conducted five focus groups with altogether 18 trainees of different health professions and students of medicine and Interprofessional Health Care. We transcribed and analysed the data using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three main categories of IPE approaches emerged out of the analysis: “content”, “settings”, and “challenges”. Contents as suggested by focus group participants are sessions about basic knowledge, practical skills, communication and interprofessional collaboration. The settings should comprise different forms and methods of teaching and didactic designs. As challenges, participants named unfamiliarity, teacher demands, differences in needs, diverging curriculum structures, heterogeneous prior knowledge, and aspects of timing. Conclusion: Based on their prior experiences with IPC and IPE in other contexts, participants generated diverse ideas for new interprofessional courses and potential application in other IPC/IPE settings. This allows to integrate new IPE approaches into curriculum development.