(67) Cohort assessment of pharmacy and medical student attitudes from baseline to program completion.

Objective : Pharmacy and medical students participated in three shared interprofessional learning experiences during the first two years, then non-uniform experiences during years three and four. The specific aim was longitudinal change in student responses from baseline until program conclusion using the validated 27 item Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS).

Methods: The IPAS was administered to the class of 2022 at the start and end of year one following delivery of fall and spring interactive interprofessional learning sessions, then mid-way through year two following simulated standardized outpatient encounters and again at the end of curricular years three and four. Students responded to items on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). A linear mixed model was used to simulate a repeated ANOVA design to detect differences in mean subscale scores between annual IPAS scores and baseline. Pairwise comparisons were completed using Tukey’s method and p values < 0.05 indicated significant differences.

Results: Baseline IPAS completion rates were 93 and 73.5% for pharmacy (n=57) and medical (n=136) students, respectively. Mean agreement with most subscales was highest at baseline (6.3 to 6.82) and trended down significantly for the subscales of teamwork, roles and responsibilities and community-centeredness. The overall subscale of interprofessional biases was lowest at baseline (4.34) and trended significantly upward by year two, remaining significantly higher for both pharmacy and medical students at the end of year four.

Conclusions: Initial perceptions related to interprofessional dynamics may reflect innate optimism, socially desirable responses, and incomplete appreciation for biases. Further research is needed to explore whether changes in attitude impact interprofessional collaboration and community-centered care delivered by pharmacy and medical students participating on interprofessional teams during the clinical education years.