Abstract

National initiatives call for interprofessional healthcare education in university settings as collaboration in the workforce leads to better patient care. However, implementing this into the curriculum can be challenging and may cause shifts in the academic culture. Faculty are imperative in this implementation, but they may not be ready for the change or aware of the benefits of interprofessional healthcare education. This study explores the current faculty stage of change and attitude toward interprofessional healthcare education, including the association between these variables and differences between disciplines. The Attitudes towards Interprofessional Education scale, an adaptation of the RIPLS scale, with a stage of change measure was sent to university faculty in undergraduate health-related disciplines at a western North American university. The overall stage of change scale score was 2.53 with no significant relationship found between stage of change and department. The overall attitudinal score was 4.16 with no significant differences of variation found as a function of department or stage of change. Many faculty are willing to engage in interprofessional education and have an overall positive attitude, but may lack training and support.