The effect of interprofessional education on interprofessional performance and diabetes care knowledge of health care teams at the level one of health service providing

The increase in life expectancy and changes in lifestyle have led to prevalence of non‑communicable diseases including diabetes whose treatment and care requires effective teamwork. This study was conducted to examine the effect of inter‑professional education on performance and diabetes care knowledge of health care teams.

This quasi‑experimental study was performed as an inter‑professional education on 6 healthcare teams (34 people) based on Kolb’s Learning Cycle and consisted of a set of training activities to improve individual, group, and inter‑professional capabilities of members of the health care team. The pre‑ and post‑tests included Team Climate Inventory (TCI) and a knowledge assessment tool performed before the workshop and 3 months later.

Mean scores for knowledge of health care team before intervention and 3 months later were 7.06 ± 1.04 and 7.97 ± 0.97 out of 10, respectively, that showed a significant difference (P < 0.0001). Mean score of the pre‑test and post‑test for inter‑professional performance comprised 47.03 ± 6.7 and 49.44 ± 5.54 out of 70, respectively, which did not show any significant difference. However, these mean scores had a significant difference for the domains of knowledge and exercising objectives of the teamwork (10.62 ± 1.37 and 11.41 ± 1.76 out of 15, respectively) (P = 0.013).

It seems that inter‑professional education can improve the quality of health care to some extent through influencing knowledge and collaborative performance of health care teams. It also can make the health‑related messages provided to the covered population more consistent in addition to enhancing self‑confidence of the personnel.