Sustained effects of interprofessional shared learning on student attitudes to communication and team working depend on shared learning opportunities on clinical placement as well as in the classroom.

BACKGROUND: Delivering high quality healthcare increasingly requires effective team working, and interprofessional shared learning (SL) is crucial to this. This study compares the attitudes, 1 year after experience of an undergraduate SL programme, of students who had participated in the programme with their peers who had not.
METHODS: 207 students were invited to complete a questionnaire to assess the impact of SL on attitudes to clinical competence and behaviour. Responses were received from 171 students (83%) who had either had no experience of SL, SL in lectures only, or SL in lectures and clinical placement.
RESULTS: Significantly different responses were found between the three groups for a number of the statements, and these were further developed in responses to the open-ended questions. Only group 3 had developed and sustained a less exclusive attitude and were better able to appreciate that SL can make an important contribution to learning communication skills and understanding patient problems.
CONCLUSIONS: This raises important questions about the approach taken to undergraduate SL if it is to have a contributory effect to attitudes about professional identity, and a significant effect in improving the quality of care provided by the doctors and nurses of tomorrow.