One objective of the Iowa Geriatric Education Center(IGEC) is to upgrade the geriatric education of health professions students through interdisciplinary curriculum development. In order to assess the current attitudes of health professions students represented in the IGEC toward interprofessional cooperation and collaboration, students of nine disciplines (Chiropractic, Medicine, Nursing, Osteopathy, Paramedic, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Podiatry, and Social Work) at four institutions (Des Moines University-Osteopathic Medical Center, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Regional Health Education Center and University of Iowa) will complete the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) during the Spring of 2000, approximately 800 students in all. The IEPS is an 18-item questionnaire that uses a Likert scale of “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (6) to assess students’ perceptions of and attitudes toward their profession in relation to other health professions. Baseline data gathered in 1999 on chiropractic students compared to published data on occupational therapy students indicated differences in each IEPS factor and total scores between the two professions. It is expected that differences in attitude among the nine professions will also be identified. This presentation will compare the IEPS mean total and subscale scores among the professions and discuss the implications to interprofessional collaboration.
Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to: 1. identify differences in the collaborative attitudes among professions 2. identify barriers to collaboration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.