Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between medical student readiness for interprofessional learning and interest in community medicine prior to incorporating community-oriented interprofessional education into the curriculum.
Methods: A questionnaire was administered to students at Nagasaki University School of Medicine in Japan during each of three consecutive years (N=2244). The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) was administered in addition to a questionnaire to evaluate interest in community medicine. The Kruskal-Wallis and Steel-Dwass tests were used to determine differences between school years. Correlation between the RIPLS score and interest in community medicine was evaluated with Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Relationships between RIPLS score and demographic parameters, and interest in community medicine were evaluated with multiple linear regression analysis.
Results: Eighty-four percent (1891/2244) of students responded. The RIPLS score was highest in school year 1, followed by year 6, year 5, year 3, and years 4 and 2. Interest in community medicine correlated with the RIPLS score (rs = 0.332, p < 0.001), but less in year 1 (rs = 0.125, p = 0.002) than in other years. RIPLS score was significantly associated with gender, age, school year, interest in community medicine, but not the year that the survey was conducted.
Conclusions: Community-oriented interprofessional education has the potential to improve attitudes towards interprofessional learning. When introducing this promising education into the curriculum from year 1, attracting students' interest in community medicine should be considered.
Keywords: community medicine; interprofessional learning; medical education; undergraduate curriculum.