Perceptions of an international interprofessional education experience: Findings from students based in Europe and North America

The globalisation of healthcare is changing the demands placed on health professionals. It requires differentskills and thought processes across national borders. Thinking in an innovative manner may provide healthcareworkers with some of the necessary tools to facilitate international change by increasing students’ mentalflexibility and ability to apply solutions in multiple contexts. We created the International Innovation Programfor health profession education students to learn about and implement the innovation process. The programmeprovides students the opportunity to learn in interprofessional, international teams and apply didactic
knowledge to community problems using the innovation process. The purpose of this article is to describestudent perceptions across 4 years of programme implementation. Through analysis of closed-ended survey
data, we found that students who participated in the programme reported improvements in collaboration andteamwork, project management, interprofessional teamwork, professional growth and development, thinkingin an innovative manner, research and development skills, information seeking, and willingness to work oninternational projects. Analysis of the open-ended questions revealed five themes: language, teamwork andcollaboration, cultural awareness, innovation process, and personal growth and self-improvement. The longterm,follow-up data indicate that these attributes can be transferred into a clinical context which haveimplications for improved collaboration and patient care