The Effects of an Anatomy Near‐Peer Learning Activity on Interprofessional Stereotypes: A Mixed Methods Study

Beyond their clinical rotations, healthcare students have few opportunities to interact with students in other domains of the health field. Furthermore, stereotypes exist within and between healthcare disciplines that can negatively impact interprofessional communication and collaboration in the clinical setting. While the anatomical sciences remain a common field of study for both nursing and medical disciplines, strategies that utilize the anatomy laboratory as a setting to minimize negative interprofessional attitudes have yet to be well characterized. Driven by a need to better understand healthcare trainees' interprofessional stereotypes, and the potential of the anatomy lab as a common teaching and learning environment, this study aims to assess the effects of an anatomy interprofessional near‐peer learning activity (AIP‐NPLA) on medical and nursing students' interprofessional stereotypes at McGill University. We employed a convergent parallel mixed methods study design to obtain a complete understanding of participating students' AIP‐NPLA experiences, where each healthcare trainee group had the opportunity to take on the role of both tutor and tutee. Using the Attitudes to Health Professionals Questionnaire (AHPQ), we quantitatively assessed participating students' perceived attitudes and stereotypes on both their own and their counterpart's profession, before and after the AIP‐NPLA. Using semi‐structured focus groups, we qualitatively explored participating students' experiences and perceptions of their interprofessional stereotypes after the AIP‐NPLA. Quantitative results demonstrated minimal changes in the pre‐ and post‐AIP‐NPLA responses from the medical students, which may be attributable to lower medical student completion. However, data from the nursing students demonstrated significant changes in ten of the twenty AHPQ attributes with respect to their perceived stereotypes of the medical profession. These changes included an increased regard for the medical profession's empathy, approachability and valuing team‐work. Furthermore, nursing student responses changed significantly for three of the twenty attributes when evaluating their own profession. Qualitative results also spoke to suggest a breakdown of negative stereotypes, an increased understanding of inter‐ and intra‐professional roles in a team, and the importance of interprofessional collaboration and mutual learning for their future careers. Taken together, these results demonstrate that by establishing a relevant setting for shared education, stereotypes among healthcare trainees may be positively restructured, allowing for effective and collaborative care to predominate in the current and future clinical setting. Support or Funding Information Jonathan Campbell Meakins and Family Memorial Fellowship This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .