Nursing students’ readiness and training needs for interprofessional education: A cross-sectional study in South Korea

Abstract

The significance of interprofessional education (IPE) in fostering interprofessional collaboration is being increasingly emphasized in healthcare. This study analyzed the training needs of nursing students based on the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Core Competencies using a descriptive, cross-sectional design. A structured survey of 108 fourth-year nursing students in Korea was conducted between June and July 2024. Data were analyzed with SPSS 27.0, using the Borich needs assessment model and importance-performance analysis (IPA). The analysis identified a critical need for focused educational intervention to enhance collaborative skills. Specifically, the results highlighted Teams and Teamwork and Roles and Responsibilities as priority areas for improvement, with a need for students to better define and differentiate roles, communicate with clarity and cultural humility, and advance team reasoning and shared leadership strategies. The findings indicate that the Core Competencies are not sufficiently integrated into nursing curricula to meet nursing students’ training needs. Therefore, curriculum developers must prioritize focused programs that enhance nursing students’ understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and cooperative strategies to effectively integrate IPE into nursing education and bridge these professional gaps. Convenience sampling and reliance on self-report data are acknowledged as limitations of this study.