Are senior UAE medical and nursing students ready for interprofessional learning? Validating the RIPL scale in a Middle Eastern context

The success of interprofessional education initiatives depends substantially on attitudes and readiness of health care students to this type of learning. To our knowledge, nothing is known about this subject in a non-western educational context. Using a self-administered extended 29 item version of the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), this study examined attitudes and readiness for interprofessional education of senior medical (n = 90) and nursing (n = 88) students' from the United Arab Emirates University and Institute of Nursing. The researchers also tested the validity of the RIPLS in this Middle Eastern context. Three main factors, comprising 20 statements emerged from statistical analysis of the data. Sub-scales were labelled "teamwork and collaboration", "professional identity" and "patient-centredness" and each had a strong internal consistency (0.86, 0.80, 0.80 respectively). Both groups of students believed that there are potential academic and clinical benefits of interprofessional learning. Nevertheless, analysis of variance indicated significant differences between the two groups of students in respect of key statements on each factor. The extended RIPLS was validated for use in an undergraduate Middle Eastern community and thus provides programme developers and evaluators with a useful tool to assess medical and nursing students' readiness for interprofessional learning in this context.