Healthcare professionals are both members of a professional group and an interprofessional group. To collaborate effectively with professionals from other disciplines, interprofessional education is necessary. This project introduced a monthly one-day module for medical, pharmacy and nursing students at UMC Utrecht, aiming to support their (inter)professional identity development.  

Background information 

A well-developed professional identity is key to interprofessional collaboration. In the context of health professions (medicine, pharmacy, nursing), apprenticeships play an important role in professional identity formation. Interprofessional learning asks students to cross boundaries between different practices. These boundaries between practices are powerful places for learning.  

Project description  

To build bridges between the different practices, each student took care of one patient and observed and discussed other students’ work. The supervisors guide the students by addressing three themes identified in interprofessional identity formation: growing confidence, commitment to client-centered care and, maintaining dual identification in different contexts. The effect of the module was investigated with focus groups, questionnaires and reflections from the supervisors.  

Aims 

This project aims to answer the following research question: 

• How can an interprofessional learning module help (inter)professional identity formation of medical, pharmacy and nursing students?  

Results & Conclusions

So far, two groups of students have been included. The aim is to include 10-12 groups of students. Preliminary results are that the interprofessional learning module helps to create awareness of the other healthcare professions, and knowledge of their skills. It also affects the attitudes of students towards other healthcare professions in a positive way. Further results will follow after more groups of students will be included.  

References 

• Tong, A., Brewer, M., Flavell, H., Roberts, L., Brown, J., & Daniel, M. (2022). Graduates’ interprofessional identity and its impact on practice. PLOS ONE, 17(6), e0268745. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268745  

• Gulikers, J., & Oonk, C. (2019). Towards a rubric for stimulating and evaluating sustainable learning. Sustainability, 11(4), 969. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/4/969  

• Tan, C. P., van der Molen, H. T., & Schmidt, H. G. (2017). A measure of professional identity development for professional education. Studies in Higher Education, 42(8), 1504–1519. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1111323  

• Reinders, J. J., Lycklama À Nijeholt, M., van der Schans, C. P., & Krijnen, W. P. (2020). The development and psychometric evaluation of an interprofessional identity measure: Extended Professional Identity Scale (EPIS). Journal of Interprofessional Care. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2020.1839891