Readiness for Interprofessional Education Among Health Profession Students at a Nigerian University: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

The implementation and sustainability of interprofessional education (IPE) depends substantially on the readiness of healthcare students. This study assessed the readiness of undergraduate healthcare students in Nigeria with regard to interprofessional practice. A cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of 300 students from a public university was conducted using a 19-item tool. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics, while differences in readiness based on students’ gender, year of study and course of study were identified using inferential statistics. The majority of the students who responded to the questionnaires (55%) were from the fifth year and had a mean age of 24.5 years old. Most of them were from Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy (33% each). The overall median score of 80 (out of 95) showed a high readiness score among the students. A significant difference was observed in the case of the gender of the respondents as to the roles and responsibilities score (p = 0.001). Furthermore, a significant difference was observed with regard to the course of study of the respondents and their professional identity score (p = 0.012). A post hoc analysis showed a p-value of 0.007 between medicine and pharmacy students, indicating that the respondents’ professional identity had a strong influence on their readiness to practice IPE. The total score was not significantly different in all the other scenarios. Healthcare students in Nigeria are ready to undertake and showed positive attitudes towards IPE; therefore, IPE should be integrated into undergraduate healthcare professions curricula to help improve attitudes towards interprofessional practice.