Interprofessional Cooperation: An Interventional Study Among Saudi Healthcare Teaching Staff at King Saud University

• Main Authors: Bashatah AS, Al-Ahmary KA, Al Arifi M, Asiri YA, AlRuthia Y, Metwally AS, King CA, Williams B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2020-11-01
• Series: Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare
• Subjects: interdisciplinary communication; interprofessional collaboration; interprofessional education; health occupations; saudi arabia.
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/interprofessional-cooperation-an-interventional-study-among-saudi-heal-peer-reviewed-article-JMDH

Adel S Bashatah,1 Khalid A Al-Ahmary,2 Mohamed Al Arifi,3 Yousif A Asiri,3 Yazed AlRuthia,3 Ahmed Sayed Metwally,4 Christine A King,5 Brett Williams5 1Department of Nursing Administration & Education, College of Nursing, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 2College of Public Health, King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Science, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Mathematics, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Paramedicine, Monash University, Frankston, VIC, AustraliaCorrespondence: Adel S BashatahDepartment of Nursing Education & Administration, College of Nursing, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaEmail [e-mail]: Collaborative interprofessional practice improves health outcomes. Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential in improving this collaboration and the quality of care. Although the majority of IPE research focuses on students, the delivery of IPE requires multiple levels of support within educational institutions, particularly teaching staff that are positive about and advocate for IPE. This study explored the attitudes of teaching staff towards interprofessional collaboration across a range of professions in Health at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.Methods: A pre-test post-test design was used with 53 teaching staff from the Health Colleges, King Saud University, before and after an interprofessional development workshop. A 12-item, 3-subscale version of the IEPS was used to evaluate changes in the 3-subscales “competency and autonomy”, “perceived need for cooperation” and “perception of actual cooperation”.Results: This study involved teaching staff from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, applied medical science and emergency medical services. Results showed positive attitudes towards IPE, including competency and autonomy, the need for cooperation, and the perception of actual cooperation. The analysis also showed a statistically significant effect of subscale 1 (competency and autonomy) was produced between the pre- and post-workshop training.Conclusion: Interprofessional collaboration across the Health Colleges is an essential component of IPE, just as IPE is an integral component of interprofessional collaborative practice. The findings provided a baseline, as well as an incentive, for further development in IPE, from policy through to practice, across the Health Colleges. Findings also showed teaching staff having a positive attitude towards interprofessional collaboration. Further research is needed on tools for measuring IPC across university hierarchies and disciplines, as well as on enablers of IPE (and not just barriers).Keywords: interdisciplinary communication, interprofessional collaboration, interprofessional education, health occupations, Saudi Arabia