Long-term clinical clerkship improves medical students' attitudes toward team collaboration

OBJECTIVES: To examine the related factors associated with medical students' attitudes toward team collaboration. METHODS: This cross-sectional study targeted medical students, residents, and doctors. A survey was conducted from 2016 to 2017 using the Japanese version of the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Collaboration (JeffSATIC-J), which evaluated "working relationship" and "accountability." We analyzed 2409 questionnaire responses with JeffSATIC-J items and the gender item. Analysis of variance was used for factors associated with the JeffSATIC-J score and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for the relationship between educational intervention and the JeffSATIC-J score. RESULTS: First-year students’ scores were the highest (F((2, 2045)) = 13.42 to 18.87, p < .001), and female students’ scores were significantly higher than those of male students (F((1, 2045)) = 21.16 to 31.10, p < .001). For residents' scores, the institution was not a significant variable. Female "accountability" scores were significantly higher than those of males (F ((1,108)) = 4.95, p = .03). Gender was not a significant variable for doctors' scores. Sixth-year students' scores were significantly correlated with the length of clinical clerkship (r((5))=.78 to .96, p<.05), with the exception of females' "working relationship" scores. The medical school with the highest JeffSATIC-J scores had the longest clinical clerkship in the community. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that long-term clinical clerkship in the community at higher grades is important in improving medical students' attitudes toward team collaboration. A qualitative study is required to confirm our findings.