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Valid assessment of interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) is challenging. The number of instruments that measure various aspects of IPECP, or in various sites is growing, however. The Interprofessional Professionalism Assessment (IPA) measures observable behaviors of health care professionals-in-training that demonstrate professionalism and collaboration when working with other health care providers in the context of people-centered care. The IPA instrument was created by the Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative (IPC), a national group representing 12 entry-level health professions and one medical education assessment organization. The instrument was created and evaluated over several years through a comprehensive, multi-phasic process: 1) development of construct and observable behaviors, 2) instrument design, expert review and cognitive interviews, and 3) psychometric testing. The IPA contains 26 items representing six domains of professionalism (altruism and caring, excellence, ethics, respect, communication, accountability), and was tested by 233 preceptors rating health profession learners in the final year of their practical training. These preceptors represented 30 different academic institutions across the U.S., worked in various types of practice sites, and evaluated learners representing 10 different entry-level health professions. Exploratory factor analysis suggested four factors (communication, respect, excellence, altruism and caring) using 21 items with the least amount of missing data, and confirmed, for the most part, a priori expectations. Internal consistency reliability coefficients for the entire instrument and its four subscales were high (all greater than 0.9). Psychometric results demonstrate aspects of the IPA's reliability and validity and its use across multiple health professions and in various practice sites.

Students entering the first year of nine combined baccalaureate‐MD degree (CD) programs were administered the Matriculating Student Questionnaire (MSQ) of the Association of American Medical Colleges. A profile of the CD students’ perspectives on becoming a physician was compared with the profile of traditional medical students who responded to the MSQ. CD students chose medicine as a career goal earlier in life than their traditional counterparts. They also had more positive perceptions of medicine. Their decisions regarding future career interests in medicine differed in some respects from those of traditional students. Larger percentages of CD students were female, had Asian backgrounds, and had physician fathers. The views of CD students were partly related to the type of CD program they attended and to demographic/background characteristics, including age, which was suggested by preliminary comparisons between premedical students and CD students.

Questionnaire data was collected from a sample of 306 student nurses from three institutions (university, college of advanced education and hospital) during the second week of the first year of their course, and from 189 students from two of the institutions (university and CAE) at the conclusion of their first year of education. The main sources of stress on both occasions were essentially the same for women and men, and for students from the different institutions. These concerns focussed on study-related issues, the emotional demands of nursing, the use of technical equipment, interpersonal interaction, and lack of time for family and personal pursuits. It was suggested that these concerns could be reduced through the introduction of education in study skills, the provision of the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with technical equipment, and the development of social skills.