title: Perceptions of an international interprofessional education experience: Findings from students based in Europe and North America.
abstract: The globalisation of healthcare is changing the demands placed on health professionals. It requires different skills and thought processes across national borders. Thinking in an innovative manner may provide healthcare workers with some of the necessary tools to facilitate international change by increasing students' mental flexibility and ability to apply solutions in multiple contexts. We created the International Innovation Program for health profession education students to learn about and implement the innovation process. The programme provides students the opportunity to learn in interprofessional, international teams and apply didactic knowledge to community problems using the innovation process. The purpose of this article is to describe student perceptions across 4 years of programme implementation. Through analysis of closed-ended survey data, we found that students who participated in the programme reported improvements in collaboration and teamwork, project management, interprofessional teamwork, professional growth and development, thinking in an innovative manner, research and development skills, information seeking, and willingness to work on international projects. Analysis of the open-ended questions revealed five themes: language, teamwork and collaboration, cultural awareness, innovation process, and personal growth and self-improvement. The long-term, follow-up data indicate that these attributes can be transferred into a clinical context which have implications for improved collaboration and patient care.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Physical Therapy , MGH Institute of Health Professions , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Macauley
authors.affiliation: b Occupational Therapy Program , Metropolitan University College , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skov
authors.affiliation: c Physical Therapy Department , Metropolia University of Applied Sciences , Helsinki , Finland.
authors.forename: Krista
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lehtonen
authors.affiliation: d School of Health and Medical Sciences , Seton Hall University , South Orange , New Jersey , USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shulman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000352:Africa, Northern; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Collaborative outcomes; education; interprofessional collaboration; interprofessional learning; surveys