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Background High-quality patient care is a complex phenomenon that requires collaboration among healthcare professionals. Research has shown that Interprofessional Education (IPE) carries promise to improve collaborative work and patient care. So far, collaboration among various health professionals remains a challenge. Very few focus group discussions to determine the medical students’ readiness and positive attitudes towards IPE have been reported from the Arabian context. Methods A two-staged sequential mixed methods study was conducted among medical, dental, pharmacy, and health sciences students of the University of Sharjah United Arab Emirates. The perspectives of students toward IPE and collaborative practice were first gathered by administering a validated instrument, Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). This was followed by focused group discussions. A quantitative as well as a qualitative data analysis was performed. Results This study cohort included 282 students. All respondents showed readiness to adopt IPE as all statements of the RIPLS inventory scored high median scores. All participants showed positive attitudes and readiness towards IPE. Three main domains of themes were generated from focus group discussions; prior knowledge, need for IPE framework and its implementation. Information workload, lack of clarity and less focused teaching pedagogies of IPE were considered as perceived barriers. Conclusion This study demonstrated a substantial agreement of medical and health sciences students towards readiness and perceived effectiveness of IPE. Educators are urged to embed new IPE programs into existing curricular frameworks, which can potentially enhance collaborative learning and improve quality of patient care.

Background High‐quality patient care is a complex phenomenon that requires collaboration among healthcare professionals. Research has shown that Interprofessional Education (IPE) carries promise to improve collaborative work and patient care. So far, collaboration among various medical disciplines remains a challenge. Several survey-based studies have reported attitudes about IPE, but very few mixed methods studies, particularly in Arabic-speaking countries, have been conducted to determine medical students’ perspectives and readiness. Methods A two-staged sequential mixed methods study was conducted among medical and health sciences students of University of [---],[country]. The perspectives of students toward IPE and collaborative practice were first gathered by administering a validated instrument; namely Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). This was followed by detailed focused group discussions. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis were performed using SPSS and NVivo, respectively.Results This study cohort included 282 students. All respondents showed readiness to adopt IPE as all statement of RIPLS survey scored high means. Highest mean of 5 was achieved for IPE elements of identifying and resolving patients’ problems and small group work. Three main themes were generated; prior knowledge, need for IPE framework and its implementation. Information workload, lack of clarity and less focused teaching pedagogies of IPE were considered as perceived barriers. Conclusion This study demonstrates substantial agreement of medical and health sciences students towards readiness and perceived effectiveness of IPE. Educators are urged to embed new IPE program into the existing curricular framework that can potentially enhance collaborative learning and improve quality of patient care.