Caring for attitudes as a means of caring for patients – improving medical, pharmacy and nursing students’ attitudes to each other's professions by engaging them in interprofessional learning

Introduction: Negative attitudes between pharmacists, doctors and nurses can impact adversely on patients’ medicines management. A seven-week interprofessional learning (IPL) intervention was delivered to foster positive attitudes.Methods: First-year pharmacy, nursing and medical students’ attitudes were assessed using the Attitudes to Health Professionals Questionnaire before and after IPL intervention.Results: Students viewed pharmacists, doctors and nurses as more ‘caring’ after IPL. Nurses were viewed as most ‘caring’. Nursing and pharmacy students perceived doctors as least ‘caring’ before and after IPL whereas medical students viewed pharmacists as least ‘caring’. Students perceived their own profession as more ‘caring’ than others did. The three-way analysis of variance showed a significant difference between student groups (p < 0.0001), professions (p < 0.0001) and before-and-after IPL (p < 0.005).Conclusion: Findings suggest that students’ attitudes are more positive after they have worked togeth...