¹Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, University Clinic for Cardiology and Angiology, Magdeburg, Germany
²Central Clinic Bad Berka, Department of Nephrology, Bad Berka, Germany
³University Clinic Magdeburg A.ö.R, Clinic for Urology, Urooncology, Robot-Assisted and Focal Therapy, Magdeburg, Germany
⁴Pfeiffersche Stiftungen Magdeburg, Department of Gastroenterology, Magdeburg, Germany
⁵University Clinic Magdeburg A.ö.R, Department of Strategic and Corporate Development, Magdeburg, Germany

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Introduction: Nurses work interprofessionally with physicians to ensure effective patient management. Medical schools therefore have to prepare learners to collaborate effectively in these multidisciplinary teams [1]. Perception of interprofessional education (IPE) may influence students’ behavior in interprofessional practice. However, nursing-related knowledge is not well incorporated in medical education in the German curriculum. Improvement in the understanding of nurses’ roles, responsibilities, and daily practice is needed [2], as we hypothesize that medical students have little knowledge of nursing processes and their professionalization.

Methods: This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to investigate medical students’ perceptions of nursing. Sixteen 1^st–6^th year students were interviewed. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using Mayring’s qualitative content analysis for key themes. Findings were validated in a collaborative analysis workshop.

Results: Seven key themes were identified:

• “interprofessionality and teamwork”,
• “first clinical exposure”,
• “mandatory nursing-internship”,
• “nursing within the curriculum”,
• “students’ interests regarding nursing-topics”, and
• “the importance of nursing and patient well-being”.

Students emphasized the importance of interprofessional collaboration and mutual understanding among healthcare professions in order to improve upon patient care and hospital efficiency.

Students acknowledge the improvement of their practical skills regarding workflows and patient contact in the nursing internship, which is their initial clinical contact on the ward. However, they noted the underrepresentation of nursing in medical school, which leads to a strong desire for better nursing education within the medical curriculum, including structured mentoring and a clearer understanding of nurses’ roles. Students emphasize the significance of practical nursing skills for patient-centered care, while these tasks are considered less relevant to physicians.

Conclusion: Students acknowledged the importance of nursing but noted a lack of understanding of nurses’ professional roles, workflows and interprofessional communication, attributing this to unstructured internships and the absence of nursing integration in the medical school curriculum, potentially leaving students underprepared for real-world demands.

As there are no prespecified learning objectives, students fail to understand the goals of the internship, which should provide insight into the nursing-profession.

These findings highlight the need for a consistent, competency-based integration of nursing-related knowledge which may consecutively enhance interprofessional thinking and action and thus improve the quality of care.

Literatur

[1] Spaulding EM, Marvel FA, Jacob E, Rahman A, Hansen BR, Hanyok LA, Martin SS, Han HR. Interprofessional education and collaboration among healthcare students and professionals: a systematic review and call for action. J Interprof Care. 2019;35(4):612-621. DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1697214
[2] Eich-Krohm A, Kaufmann A, Winkler-Stuck K, Werwick K, Spura A, Robra BP. First Contact: interprofessional education based on medical students’ experiences from their nursing internship. GMS J Med Educ. 2016;33(2):Doc20. DOI: 10.3205/zma001019