Table 3. Theme and subthemes predominant amongst midwifery students
Medical Students Midwifery Students
6.      Dynamics of online interaction  
·        Dominance of a professional group MED 39: “I just do not think it was very conducive to have the midwifery students interrupting the workshop constantly…the midwifery students in my breakout session were constantly harping on the 1 or 2 points the entirety of the discussion session” MED 39: “…a whole bunch of eager midwifery student barrage the chat function and constantly undermining the consultants due to mismatch in what they were apparently taught. It would be hard to tell if those students would have been equally disruptive in an in person session instead.” MED 69: “…unfortunately our session… was filled with midwife students just slandering medical students. Multiple comments saying that medical students are not women centric like midwife students, and additional comments about our inability…Unfortunately the only environment was much more toxic and just made me feel very inadequate, unsupported, judged, and very uninspired about interprofessional learning.” MED 70: ·        Power imbalance relating to their greater knowledge and clinical experience than the medical student MW 3: “I think it was difficult being in a group of medical students, as I have accouchered many births as a final year midwifery student…however for many of the medical students, they have never even seen a birth…they struggled to critically evaluate the scenario… medical students learning this content for the first time and the midwifery students wanting to fine tune…” MW 35: “it was interesting from a novice midwife perspective to understand the limited level of obstetric knowledge medical students may have prior to placement/clinicals in the birth environment. I also believe it would be a great learning opportunity for them to understand just how much pre- registration training we have in neonatal emergencies, and that much of the management can and is midwife initiated in real life.” MW 28: “I also felt that a lot of the midwifery students answer most of the questions as we are confident with the theory but I am not sure the medical students were given enough opportunity to discuss.” MW 37: “I really liked that the registered Doctors told the medical students that they can learn a lot from midwives and going forward I look forward to working in a multidisciplinary team where there is mutual respect.” MW 35: “I questioned the approach of the OB during the workshop and whether optimal care was being provided and will take that with me to try to ensure that as midwives, we ensure we enhance that objective through advocation.”
·        Equality of opinions MED 22: “…perceived imbalance. There were only 2-3 midwifery students and I barely heard from them during the session” ·        Equality of opinions MW 13: “…the debriefing proved less interaction with medical students. I found it disappointing their lack of involvement. Medical students need to understand as midwives they are there to work with and need their opinions for reflective …learning” MW 14: “…would have liked more input from medical students to hear from their experiences and thoughts” MW 8: “I think the main takeaway is that both midwives and doctors can … value each other’s opinions and experiences.” MW 22: “…many students seemed shy or hesitant to participate…it would have been interesting to learn more about the medical students perspective in this situation” MW 42: “I would of loved to have heard more from the medical students” MW 42: “There would be a greater discussion I think if it was just midwifery or medical student run, but the idea of it being together makes sense.” MW 47: “…I did find that conversations amongst students were more midwife led than medical student led.”
·        Contribution from more clinically experienced midwifery students leading to increased learning by medical fraternity MED 37: “I think it was good to gain insight and knowledge from midwifery students, they clearly know much more than us medical students…” MED 3: “I think the presence of the midwifery students helped and gave us a different perspective…as medical students, our knowledge was much poorer than midwifery students…” MED 38: “The midwifery students have a lot more knowledge and experience in this aspect so not sure how a course with only med students might run” MED 72: “As a med student it was really helpful to learn from the midwifery students who have had more a lot more experience in this area” MED 68: “There is so much to learn…especially because midwifery students know so much more about obstetrics and us medical students are only really on placement for 8 weeks so we don't have as much exposure and experience as them”   ·        Awareness of clinical challenges MW 18: “I would hope that interprofessional interactions are respectful and an opportunity to share and learn from each other-in placement my experience is that this is not always the case” MW 36: “I think that it was a great idea and helps to break down the hierachy between midwives and doctors” MW 43: “I think that working with different future health care professionals is important. It is rare to have that opportunity and I believe that is what contributes to the divide between professionals and the clinical hierarchy that often exists.”  

MED: Medical student, e.g., MED 58 indicates a survey response from the 58th medical student who completed the survey; MW: Midwifery student, e.g., MW 24 indicates a survey response from the 24th midwifery student who completed the survey

Int J Med Educ. 2022; 13:287-304; doi: 10.5116/ijme.6342.9214