Abstract
[Purpose] Interprofessional education (IPE) is an important academic approach for
preparing health-care professionals to provide patient care in a collaborative team
environment. This study aimed to measure the perceptions and readiness toward IPE among
female undergraduate health-care students at King Saud University (KSU). [Subjects and
Methods] A cross-sectional study carried out using a survey in the form of an electronic
questionnaire: The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). The
questionnaire was distributed to the students via e-mail and social media networks.
[Results] The RIPLS was completed by 296 female health-care students at KSU who valued the
importance of IPE. The differences between health-care disciplines in the perceptions and
readiness toward IPE were statistically significant, but there were no differences between
students of different years of study in their perception and readiness toward IPE.
[Conclusion] Administering a course of interprofessional teamwork in the health-care
curriculum is a major challenge for the clinical education community. IPE offers an
opportunity to address the multi-disciplinary concept in hospitals. Our findings indicate
that undergraduate health-care students have high perception and readiness toward IPE.