Longitudinal impact of preregistration interprofessional education on the attitudes and skills of health professionals during their early careers: a non-randomised trial with 4-year outcomes

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether a preregistration interprofessional education (IPE) programme changed attitudes towards teamwork and team skills during health professionals’ final year of training and first 3 years of professional practice. DESIGN: Prospective, longitudinal, non-randomised trial. SETTING: Final year health professional training at three academic institutions in New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: Students from eight disciplines eligible to attend the IPE programme were recruited (617/730) prior to their final year of training. 130 participants attended the IPE programme; 115 intervention and 372 control participants were included in outcome analysis. INTERVENTION: The 5-week Tairāwhiti IPE (TIPE) immersion programme during which students experience clinical placements in interdisciplinary teams, complete collaborative tasks and live together in shared accommodation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data were collected via five surveys at 12-month intervals, containing Attitudes Towards Healthcare Teams Scale (ATHCTS), Team Skills Scale (TSS) and free-text items. Mixed-model analysis of covariance, adjusting for baseline characteristics, compared scores between groups at each time point. Template analysis identified themes in free-text data. RESULTS: Mean ATHCTS scores for TIPE participants were 1.4 (95% CI 0.6 to 2.3) points higher than non-TIPE participants (p=0.002); scores were 1.9 (95% CI 0.8 to 3.0) points higher at graduation and 1.1 (95% CI −0.1 to 2.4) points higher 3 years postgraduation. Mean TSS scores for TIPE participants were 1.7 (95% CI 0.0 to 3.3) points higher than non-TIPE participants (p=0.045); scores were 3.5 points (95% CI 1.5 to 5.5) higher at graduation and 1.3 (95%CI −0.8 to 3.5) points higher 3 years postgraduation. TIPE participants made substantially more free-text comments about benefits of interprofessional collaboration and perceived the TIPE programme had a meaningful influence on their readiness to work in teams and the way in which they performed their healthcare roles. CONCLUSIONS: TIPE programme participation significantly improved attitudes towards healthcare teams and these changes were maintained over 4 years.