Readiness for Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Interprofessional Practice (IPP): A Mixed-Methods Study of Healthcare Practitioners at Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar
Creators: name: Mrus, Kristen Jennifer
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Education
subject: Education--Health
subject: Interprofessional Education (IPE)
subject: Interprofessional Practice (IPP)
subject: Health Professions Education
subject: Qatar
subject: Readiness
subject: Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC)
subject: Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS)
subject: Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS)
subject: Organizational Change Recipients’ Belief Scale (OCRBS)

description: There is considerable interest, from the healthcare and education domains, for Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Interprofessional Practice (IPP) as means to reform the way in which healthcare professionals are educated and prepared for practice, and to generate shifts in the delivery of care. Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the leading healthcare provider in Qatar and employer of over 14,000 healthcare practitioners, is seeking to advance uptake of IPE and IPP amongst its clinical workforce. Organization Development (OD) approaches suggest that organizational change results from collective individual behavioural change. Prior research has shown that individual readiness for change is an important precursor to behavioural and organizational change, and advanced exploring attitudes – how one thinks and feels – as a means to understand readiness. This research seeks, therefore, to understand readiness for IPE and IPP amongst HMC’s practitioners through the lens of their attitudes towards IPE, IPP and healthcare teams, and receptivity for organizational change. Using a mixed-methods sequential research design, the researcher collected quantitative data (n = 792) through the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS), and Organizational Change Recipients’ Belief Scale (OCRBS) – and qualitative data (n = 39) through uniprofessional and interprofessional focus groups. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics methods including Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc tests. Qualitative data was analyzed using Thematic Analysis. The findings from the research suggest that HMC’s practitioners have strong positive attitudes towards IPE, moderately positive attitudes towards IPP and healthcare teams, and demonstrate considerable receptivity for engagement in organizational change, through individual positive attitudes towards change and perceived organizational support for change. The findings also provide insights into existing IPE and IPP initiatives at HMC and perceived enablers for, and challenges towards, greater uptake of IPE and IPP within the organization. The study’s results establish a baseline for an unexplored area of research in Qatar, providing the first glimpse into attitudes towards IPE and IPP amongst practicing clinicians. Recommendations for stakeholders from HMC and Qatar’s healthcare and health professions education domain are also discussed.