Facilitators and Barriers to an Online Interprofessional Education Programme: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Inter-professional education (IPE) and collaborative practice have emerged as requirements of many healthcare programmes with the key aim of promoting optimal patient care. This paper describes undergraduate students’ perceptions and experiences of a bespoke five-week online digital cross-institutional IPE programme.   

The programme was delivered via Curatr, a social learning platform that provides the tools to build and deliver engaging online courses and was underpinned by subtle gamification elements. A mixed method concurrent design was used, and data was gathered via focus groups and questionnaires.   

In total, 232 students participated in the IPE programme with 131 (56% response rate) completing the online survey and 57 students participating in nine focus groups. All students reported that the programme had a positive impact on their learning, increasing their understanding of other professional roles, communication and teamwork. Strategies that enabled IPE included the Curatr platform and the interprofessional mix of students. Barriers that hindered learning included; limited group discussions, repetitive learning activities and a lack of clinical experience.   

The experience of running an online, cross-institutional IPE programme presented unique opportunities and challenges. The findings indicate that the content and structure of the programme require further work to ensure that the material is relevant to as many disciplines as possible. Ensuring equal participation and support across disciplines is important to enhance both students’ learning and the importance of IPE. Overall, students valued and recognised the relevance of the programme to their studies and future practice as health and social care professionals.