Assessing the effects of interprofessional education by hospital pharmacists on pharmaceutical students using a self-evaluation scale.

Background: Understanding the roles and competencies of professions outside of one's specialty is essential for providing efficient healthcare. However, it is difficult for medical professionals to understand the roles and competencies of other related professions while performing their duties. This study examined the impact of clinical practice-based interprofessional education (IPE) on pharmacy students, who are future medical professionals.

Methods: Sixty-eight pharmaceutical students undergoing clinical practice were divided into non-IPE or IPE groups, with the IPE group attending an educational program with medical students conducted by doctors, pharmacists, and teachers during the clinical practice period. The effect was evaluated through a group survey using self-administered questionnaires focusing on contributing to multidisciplinary team medicine based on the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale. The survey included specific behavioral objectives (SBOs), the Readiness for Interpersonal Learning Scale (RIPLS), and Kikuchi's Scale of Social Skills (KiSS-18).

Results: Regardless of group, SBOs [non-IPE: 3.2, 95% CI (2.6-3.8), p < 0.001; IPE: 3.7, 95% CI (2.5-4.9), p < 0.001] and social skills [non-IPE: 4.0, 95% CI (2.5-6.1), p < 0.001; IPE: 6.7 95% CI (3.0-10.4), p < 0.001] showed improvement after the clinical practice. In RIPLS Factor 3, pharmacy students with IPE awareness scored significantly higher by 1.5 points [95% CI (0.2-2.8), p = 0.025] post-practice than those without IPE awareness.

Conclusions: This study suggests that IPE for students during clinical practice could enhance their expertise in multidisciplinary medicine and facilitate the development of seamless team care in the future.

Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered and conducted in compliance with the "Ethical Guidelines for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects" and was approved by The Ethics Committee of Tokushima University Hospital (approval number: 3544).