Paramedic and medical students' interprofessional education experiences

Background: Interprofessional education is an integral component of undergraduate health professions education as it can prepare students to transition to interprofessional collaborative practice. Health professions students whose future work will intersect should be educated together. Although the communication between paramedics and doctors is critical to the patient journey in transition from community to hospital-based care, few studies report on their interprofessional education experiences. Aims: This qualitative study aimed to describe the discipline-specific student experience and perceptions of interprofessional education communication workshops for students of medicine and paramedicine programmes. Programme-specific focus groups were conducted and three researchers conducted thematic analysis of the transcripts to identify emerging themes. Results: Six themes emerged: perceptions of one's own and each other's professions; patient-centred care; communication; patient assessment, learning; and scope of practice. Students reported a shift in their understanding of the scope and role of each other's profession and contextualised this through a lens of improved patient-centred care as the interprofessional education activity facilitated trust and confidence in their own and each other's professional identity. Conclusion: Findings align with previous interprofessional education research regarding positive changes in interprofessional education domains including role clarification and patient-centred care. A series of interprofessional education communication skills workshops positively influenced the students' perspectives and they valued the opportunity to learn with and from each other.