Exploring experiences of Faculty of Health Sciences students on interprofessional collaboration in the healthcare settings in the Khomas region, Namibia
Jul 2026· Health SA = SA Gesondheid· Vol 31· 0 citations· 47 references
Medicine
TL;DR
It is revealed that IPC is seen as a pathway to better teamwork and improved patient care outcomes among healthcare students, however, addressing challenges such as fostering effective interprofessional relationships is crucial for optimising IPC in healthcare settings.
Abstract
Background Globally, interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been shown to improve patient outcomes and foster teamwork. While IPC forms an integral part of healthcare delivery, enabling professionals from various disciplines to work together in achieving holistic patient care, in Namibia, there is little research on the experiences of Faculty of Health Sciences students on IPC. Aim The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of Faculty of Health Sciences students on IPC in healthcare settings within the Khomas Region, Namibia. Setting This study was conducted at the National University in Namibia. Methods A qualitative exploratory contextual design was used. Data were collected through individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 16 Faculty of Health Sciences students. All interviews were audio recorded with a digital voice recorder followed by verbatim transcriptions, with the participants’ permission. The collected data were analysed thematically to identify recurring themes. Results Three main themes emerged: (1) Understanding IPC as a learning and teamwork opportunity, (2) barriers to ineffective IPC in clinical settings and (3) mechanisms for enhancing IPC in healthcare settings. Conclusion This study revealed that IPC is seen as a pathway to better teamwork and improved patient care outcomes among healthcare students. However, addressing challenges such as fostering effective interprofessional relationships is crucial for optimising IPC in healthcare settings. Contribution Understanding student’s experiences on IPC can contribute to the development of ongoing strategies and targeted interventions geared towards enhancing strong IPC and promoting teamwork, effective communication and improved patient-centred care.
Pharmacy students highly valued IPE and highlighted that an early, structured, and longitudinal integration of IPE in the curriculum is necessary to enhance collaborative competencies and professional development.
Nurul Athirah Hasdan, Ahmed Osman Ahmed Mohamed Yehia Naguib, Nor Hidayah Mohd Taufek· The Journal of pharmacy· 0 citations
The findings revealed that participants had good knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding IPE, however, challenges such as limited exposure to other healthcare programmes, timetabling constraints and a lack of co-ordinated IPE activities should be addressed to inform future IPE practice.
M. Morule, S. Singh, A. Bhayat· African Journal of Health Pr...· 0 citations
Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is an important part of the innovation strategy to overcome the health professional crisis. Most health professionals who currently work at public health centres engage in IPC without receiving training or collaborative learning experience at the undergraduate level, namely interprofessional education (IPE). This study aimed to determine the challenges ofinterprofessional health collaboration at public health centres in Palu. The researchers purposively visited 10 general practitioners to explore IPC interactions that occurred at their public health centres in Palu by conducting in-depth interviews. This study highlighted that the challenges of IPC at public health centres in Palu included a lack of roles and responsibilities, poor service team coordination,misunderstandings in interprofessional communication, and ethical issues in the health professions. Therefore, it is deemed pivotal to promptly implement IPE for undergraduate medical students at Alkhairaat University to help them acquire the skills needed to enter the health workforce and prepare them for IPC.
Hasri Ainun Syawal, Rina Masadah, F. Hamid et al.· Education in Medicine Journa...· 0 citations
Medical students’ perceptions of nursing are strongly shaped by early and variably structured clinical experiences, particularly the nursing internship, and the findings suggest that current medical curricula insufficiently support the systematic development of interprofessional role understanding.
Lukas Valerius, Jonathan Hagedorn, Christian Albert et al.· Frontiers in Medicine· 0 citations
Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential to enable development of healthcare students' collaborative competencies and thus prepare them for collaborative practice as healthcare professionals. Existing IPE research has mainly been conducted in inpatient care units. As healthcare increasingly will be based on primary healthcare interventions, IPE arranged in such settings needs to be further examined. This empirical study was designed with a focused ethnographic approach, informed by the theory of practice architectures, and aimed to investigate how IPE arranged in primary healthcare prefigures students' interprofessional collaboration. Four student teams consisting of nursing, occupational therapy and medical students were observed during an IPE placement in primary healthcare. The results of this study suggest that students' interprofessional collaboration during IPE is prefigured by intended arrangements, i.e. those that are part of the IPE design as well as arrangements inherent in the primary healthcare practice. These arrangements were at times contradictory, which affected the students' focus on, as well as conditions and incentives to engage in interprofessional collaboration. Thus, when implementing IPE in an already existing practice, it is crucial that the educational context is carefully considered to ensure that the intention of the IPE practice can be achieved.
Karin Landberg, Anita Iversen, P. Tingström et al.· Journal of Interprofessional...· 0 citations
ABSTRACT Interprofessional collaboration is crucial in providing holistic care services for older adults, requiring professionals to overcome various barriers. This study aims to explore how interprofessional collaboration can be facilitated in gerontological social work field education. This research was conducted in the context of a field placement in which social work students collaborated with a care team in a nursing home in China. Data were collected through focus group interviews with students (N = 55) and one teacher’s observation note (N = 1). A qualitative directed content analysis was conducted, guided by the ‘crossing boundaries in interprofessional collaboration’ theory framework. Nvivo 14 was used to manage codes and support data analysis. The findings revealed that interprofessional collaboration in social work field education involves crossing cultural, attitudinal, expertise-related, and structural boundaries by finding a common language, broadening understanding, developing competence, establishing shared knowledge, and acknowledging the complexity of the work environment while integrating resources. This study highlights the potential of the ‘crossing boundaries in interprofessional collaboration’ framework in guding the design of educational programs that promote interprofessional collaboration in gerontological social work practice.
