Exploring students' perceptions and opinions about an institutional hierarchy of healthcare professionals and its impact on their inter-professional learning outcomes

Context: Institutional hierarchy is a phenomenon associated with clinical tribalism. Inter-professional learning is thought to improve a healthcare team's collaboration and communication.
Aim: The aim was to evaluate student understanding of institutional hierarchy and perceptions and opinions on their participation in inter-professional learning.
Method: Using a questionnaire, this study gathered the opinions of fourth year pharmacy students who had completed two inter-professional learning sessions. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted.
Results: Students (87.7%, n=50) were aware of the institutional hierarchy concept, listing the order as doctors, pharmacists, nurses then allied health. 61.4% (n=35) were willing to participate in inter-professional learning sessions. Students (70.1%, n=40) agreed that inter-professional learning sessions have added benefit to patient-centred care, and to understanding different healthcare roles in depth (82.5%, n=47) but failed in diminution of the hierarchical ideology.
Conclusions: Inter-professional learning sessions did not change students' opinions about posiGoning of doctors as the top of the healthcare institutional hierarchy.