Spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation is highly interprofessional, and person-centered care is widely advocated in this context. While interprofessional communication is recognized as central, too little is known about how it is experienced by patients. This study aimed to explore how patients experience interprofessional communication during SCI rehabilitation and how these experiences shape person-centered care from a patient perspective. A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 29 individuals after discharge from SCI rehabilitation. Interviews focused on patients' experiences of interprofessional communication across rehabilitation situations. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Patients experienced interprofessional communication as contributing to person-centered care in two main ways. First, it shaped relational experiences by fostering feelings of inclusion in a team, being taken seriously, and a shared commitment to one's best interest. Second, interprofessional communication shaped experiences of rehabilitation-related processes by supporting patients' focus, rehabilitation progress, and confidence in self-management. Across these experiences, patients described concrete interprofessional communication approaches that made care feel person-centered, including harmonious team presence, respectful information exchange, collaborative expertise exchange, visible and reliable coordination, aligned goals, and consistent patient education. Interprofessional communication plays a central role in how person-centered care is experienced in SCI rehabilitation. Grounded in patients' perspectives, these findings highlight specific communication approaches through which interprofessional communication contributes to relational and rehabilitation-related processes of person-centered care. Patients attend not only to how professionals communicate with them, but also to how professionals communicate with one another. Visible, respectful, and coordinated interprofessional communication can reduce patients' cognitive and emotional burden and support rehabilitation engagement and self-management. Healthcare institutions can strengthen interprofessional communication by supporting team-based communication practices, such as interprofessional rounds that include patients, shared goal alignment, and opportunities for interprofessional reflection and learning.
Interprofessional collaboration is essential in today's healthcare environment. As such, preparing the next generation to confidently and sustainably enter the workforce is increasingly urgent. Experiential interprofessional education (IPE) interventions are particularly effective in bridging the gap between classroom learning and practical application. Community-based education further enriches these outcomes by immersing students in real-world environments that emphasize patient-centered care and responsiveness to community needs. However, IPE remains challenging to design and deliver in the clinical learning environment. The purpose of this report is to describe the design, implementation, and five-year outcomes of the Interprofessional Internship as a proof of concept for high-quality, community-based IPE, delivered from September 2020 to May 2025 through the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The model incorporates health profession intern teams carefully matched with community partner projects in areas such as quality improvement, community engagement, and organizational change, as well as professional development experiences designed to further advance interns' interprofessional competency. The Interprofessional Internship has completed 36 projects with 19 community organizations and involved 69 students from 24 academic programs. In line with internship goals, interns reported increased confidence in interprofessional competencies, corroborated by peer assessments, and outcomes demonstrate community partner engagement and their ability to advance their work through high-impact projects addressing health needs across the state. This innovative Interprofessional Internship offers a tangible, replicable model of training that integrates IPE into community-based experiential education while yielding meaningful community outcomes. Future pursuits beyond for-credit offerings include, but are not limited to, multi-partner community-based project design, longitudinal connections to geographically- or organizationally aligned learner teams with on-site experiential rotations, and integration of patients and communities in project work.
Respiratory therapists (RTs) are essential members of multidisciplinary respiratory and critical care teams, yet their contributions to interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice remain less well characterized than those of many other health professions. This narrative review aimed to synthesize current evidence regarding RT-inclusive IPE, educational outcomes, implementation models, and remaining research gaps. # Methods This review followed Ferrari's narrative review framework. Literature searches were conducted in PubMed, ERIC, ProQuest, and supplementary sources from database inception through September 2025. Studies were eligible if they involved RTs or respiratory therapy students and addressed interprofessional education, interprofessional learning, collaborative practice, or team-based healthcare delivery. # Results Seventeen records published between 2013 and 2025 met the inclusion criteria. Most studies originated from North America and were conducted in educational settings. Simulation-based learning was the predominant IPE strategy. RT-inclusive IPE was associated with improvements in teamwork, interprofessional communication, role clarification, collaborative competence, mechanical ventilation knowledge, and clinical preparedness. Clinical reports also described valuable RT contributions in neonatal care, primary care teams, and intensive care recovery clinics. However, RT perspectives remained underrepresented in curriculum development, research priority-setting, and outcome evaluation. Common implementation barriers included scheduling constraints, curricular overload, logistical challenges, and limited faculty resources. # Conclusion Current evidence suggests that RT-inclusive IPE strengthens collaborative competencies and supports team-based respiratory care. Future research should incorporate standardized outcome measures, longitudinal evaluation, RT-specific indicators, and greater involvement of RT educators and clinicians in the design, implementation, and assessment of interprofessional education initiatives.
Professional commitment is a key factor influencing nursing students' sense of professional identity, learning motivation, and future retention. However, most existing studies treat it as a single continuous construct, overlooking the dimensional combinations and internal heterogeneity within student groups. The relationship between commitment profiles and interprofessional collaboration competence (IPCC) remains unclear. To identify latent profiles of professional commitment among undergraduate nursing students and examine differences in their IPCC and related influencing factors. Cross-sectional study. Six public undergraduate universities in Guangxi, China. A total of 492 undergraduate nursing students across all academic years. Data were collected using structured questionnaires measuring professional commitment and interprofessional collaboration competence. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify commitment profiles. Chi-square (χ2) tests, ANOVA, and multinomial logistic regression were employed to explore associated factors and group differences in collaboration competence. Three distinct profiles of professional commitment were identified: Low Commitment (27.8%): Weak affective and idealistic commitment, with a high risk of attrition; Moderate Commitment (53.3%): Strong in normative commitment but low in intrinsic motivation; High Commitment (18.9%): Balanced development across all four dimensions and strong professional identity. Satisfaction with the nursing major significantly predicted profile membership (P < 0.001). A gradient association was found between commitment profiles and IPCC, with the High Commitment group showing significantly higher scores in value alignment, role understanding, communication, and teamwork (P < 0.001). Professional commitment among undergraduate nursing students exhibits clear heterogeneity. Commitment profiles effectively predict collaboration competence. Educators are encouraged to apply tiered interventions based on commitment levels and integrate identity development into interprofessional education to enhance students' collaborative capacity and career development potential.
To conceptualise how ventilation-related decisions are accomplished as interprofessional work in intensive care practice, moving beyond approaches that treat decision-making as discrete events. Ethnography. Data were generated through 97 h of participant observation and 17 episodic interviews with nurses (n = 12) and physicians (n = 5) in two adult intensive care units of a German university hospital. Data collection and analysis proceeded iteratively between December 2023 and July 2025. Analysis was guided by the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven. Decision-making was found to be an ongoing, socially organised form of work unfolding across the patient's illness trajectory. The analysis differentiates between directional and adjustment decisions and identifies four interrelated domains of decision work: orienting, involving, negotiating and implementing. The findings highlight (1) the temporal and iterative organisation of decision work, (2) involving in organising participation and access to influence, (3) the significance of non-negotiation practices in stabilising decisions and (4) implementing as a constitutive and relational dimension through which decisions are enacted in practice. Viewing ventilation-related decision-making as interprofessional decision work shifts attention from discrete choices to the ongoing accomplishment of decisions in practice. This perspective makes visible how decision-making is shaped through distributed and practice-based contributions, with nurses playing a central role, particularly through implementing and adjustment work that remains underrepresented in cognitive models of decision-making. The conceptualisation of ventilation-related decision work supports more explicit recognition of nursing contributions in interprofessional collaboration, particularly in shaping decisions through adjustment and implementing practices and may inform approaches to organising decision-making in complex care settings. This study was reported in accordance with the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR). This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct, or reporting.
Interprofessional education (IPE) has been widely endorsed as essential to collaborative practice, yet decades of implementation have yielded only modest and inconsistent improvements in clinician behaviour and patient outcomes. This Reflection contends that the persistent knowledge gap reflects a deeper structural problem: educational interventions are being asked to do work that organisational and regulatory systems actively obstruct. Using comparative analysis of health systems in Asia, where interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) has emerged as an operational necessity in high-acuity settings, we examine the conditions under which IPCP becomes embedded in everyday practice rather than confined to training programmes. The analysis points to four structural enablers warranting attention: alignment between educational and service-level expectations; clarity in task-sharing and scope-of-practice arrangements; dedicated investment in IPCP processes and time; and accountability systems sensitive to context. Addressing these enablers requires not the adoption of a single model, but a reciprocal exchange of insights across health systems with different organisational histories and cultural resources.
Continuing professional development (CPD) about social processes and structures (eg, power relations, organizational policies) in health care has been minimally explored. This study examined the teaching of social practices and structures in the domains of interprofessional collaboration and quality improvement, and the education paradigms used, with particular attention to transformative education. This case study included three CPD cases at two university-affiliated Centres. Data collection included observations (n = 42.5 hours), interviews with program/Centre leads and guest presenters (n = 13), and documents. Paradigms of education informed the interpretive thematic analysis conducted. A range of concepts related to social practices and structures were introduced across sessions (eg, systemic racism, unconscious bias). An examination of education purpose, role of teacher-learner, and teaching modalities, demonstrated that varied paradigms of education (eg, cognitivist, constructivist) were drawn on to teach these topics, with efforts toward transformative approaches. Programs were largely oriented to practical learning and application, with the teacher positioned as expert or learners being encouraged to interact with, and learn from each other. However, participants recognized additional education purposes aligned with a transformative paradigm, to question and shift learners' perspectives, making efforts to align teacher-learner roles and learning modalities. There were tensions, though, working across paradigms; session formats and learner/sponsor expectations influenced paradigms used. Findings provide insights to how to incorporate content about social practices and structures into interprofessional collaboration and quality improvement CPD. Given the multiple and sometimes competing education goals, positioning paradigms of education as coexisting layers may be more effective than viewing them as mutually exclusive.
This mini review examines how oral microbial ecology, dental antibiotic prescribing, fragmented clinical pathways at the medical-dental-pharmacy interface, and ethical pressures together contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in oral healthcare, and argues that interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional education are essential components of an effective response. Relevant literature was identified through targeted searches of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library, relevant guidelines and policy documents resulting in selection of seventy-two references comprising four thematic domains: clinical coordination and decision-making across dental, medical, and pharmacy settings; antimicrobial stewardship and rational antibiotic use in dentistry; fragmented care pathways at the medical-dental-pharmacy interface; and ethical and educational dimensions of prescribing. The novelty of this review lies in bringing these domains together within a single conceptual framework that positions oral healthcare not as a peripheral issue, but as biologically, clinically, and ethically important site of AMR emergence and stewardship.
This short report aims to bring evidence from modern psychometric methods (item response theory; IRT) to bear on a general team measure (Teamwork Questionnaire; FAT) adopted specifically for interprofessional education (IPE). The FAT was administered to n = 160 mixed-health‑profession participants in a post-IPE questionnaire. IRT analyses examine the following three aspects of the FAT: 1) scale dimensionality, 2) subscale reliability, and 3) item bias. Firstly, findings support FAT overall reliability but fail to support subscale reliabilities. Secondly, findings indicate a strong, general factor underlying the FAT that supports unidimensional interpretations. Thirdly, item bias assessment indicated insubstantial differences across student and facilitator groups, supporting the retention of all FAT items in future IPE administrations. Taken together, we find sufficient evidence to support the FAT's application within an IPE context, and future research should aim to inspect its responsivity (change) over time.
A peer-led prescription writing workshop was delivered by pairs of fourth-year pharmacy student facilitators (PSFs) to second-year medical (MD) and first-year physician assistant (PA) students. This study assessed PSFs' teaching performance and evaluated participants' perceptions of the workshop's educational value. A mixed-methods cross-sectional design was used. MD and PA students evaluated the PSFs and the workshop via a Likert scale survey that was developed from validated instruments. PSFs also completed self-assessments and evaluated their co-facilitator's performance. Descriptive statistics were reported (N, %), stratified by discipline, and comparisons were made using chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. A post-workshop focus group with PSFs explored experiences and feedback was analyzed using Braun and Clarke's inductive thematic analysis. Ten PSFs led the session for 339 students (289 MD, 50 PA). Quantitative results showed high satisfaction, with 85% of all participants strongly agreeing the session was informative and 84% feeling it met expectations. Most participants rated PSFs' performance at the highest level, and PSFs gave similarly high ratings to themselves and co-facilitators. More PA students (73%) expressed interest in further training compared to MDs (44%, p = 0.0001). Qualitative analysis revealed that PSFs experienced challenges engaging students during the role-play activity. Effective teaching strategies included preparation, collaboration to address knowledge gaps, and using the teach-back method. PSFs found the experience rewarding, valued affirming feedback, and expressed interest in future peer-facilitated teaching. A peer-led prescription writing workshop successfully met learners' expectations and was a valuable experience for both student facilitators and participants.
The World Health Organization surgical safety checklist (WHO SSC) provides a standardized framework for preoperative safety procedures. However, studies have revealed substantial variation in adherence, with items being skipped or misunderstood and nurses likely to be less involved than other operating room (OR) professional groups. We introduce a 16-item team timeout checklist (TTOC) that clarifies and adds safety-critical items to the existing WHO before skin incision timeout and is led by nurses to improve information exchange, closed-loop communication, and encouraging participation of all professional groups. Using a prospective pre-post interventional design, we live-coded all team communication during on-site observations in the OR focusing on the pre-incision phase. Surgical teams were first observed during a pre-intervention period without the TTOC checklist and subsequently during a post-intervention period after implementation of the TTOC checklist. The TTOC was evaluated on four communication outcomes critical for patient safety: information exchange of checklist items, measured as the percentage of the 16 items that were verbally communicated among team members (eg, team introduction, surgical site, allergies), participation rates of different professional groups, frequency of explicit coordination behaviors (eg, instruction, information request, speaking up) and the frequency of closed-loop communication sequences, defined as information request followed by information upon request within 30 seconds. A total of 155 teams were observed, including 78 teams in the pre-intervention phase without TTOC use and 77 teams in the post-intervention phase using the TTOC, resulting in 13,127 coded communication events. The median information exchange increased from 62.5% (interquartile range [IQR] 50-68.8) in the pre-intervention phase to 100% (IQR 100-100) in the post-intervention phase (P < .001). For 15 of all 16 subitems, the odds of exchanging information were significantly higher after TTOC implementation than before TTOC implementation (odds ratios range 10.8-1896, all 95% confidence intervals [CIs] excluded 1). Participation rates increased for circulating nurses, scrub nurses, surgical residents, and anesthesia (all P < .05) but not for lead surgeons. Mean (standard deviation [SD]) closed-loop communication patterns per operation were more frequent with (20.4 [10.7]) than without the TTOC (16.4, [7.24]), P = .004. In our study, the nurse-led TTOC significantly improved the exchange of safety-critical items during the pre-incision phase, facilitated closed-loop communication, and empowered the participation of various professional groups. These findings suggest integrating the TTOC with the WHO SSC before-incision protocol may have important advantages.
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Postsentence treatment for persons convicted of sexual offenses is a legally complex and socially stigmatized care setting in which nursing and interprofessional practice must address treatment, safety, rehabilitation, and public protection. However, little is known about the everyday experiences of staff working in these units. This preliminary qualitative study examined frontline workers' experiences in a postsentence treatment unit in Taiwan and explored their implications for nursing knowledge, staff safety, and interprofessional practice. Four focus group interviews were conducted with 21 staff members, including nurses, therapists, a social worker, and security personnel. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: entering an unfamiliar field of care; caring under conditions of legal oversight; negotiating gendered safety and professional boundaries; absorbing invisible emotional and moral labor; and building interprofessional care in the presence of structural gaps. Findings show that postsentence treatment requires more than general psychiatric nursing knowledge. Staff must develop legal awareness, boundary work, emotional regulation, ethical judgment, gender-sensitive safety practices, and team-based risk interpretation. Nurses' daily observations of behavior, interpersonal boundaries, medication effects, emotional responses, and interaction patterns represent important but often underrecognized clinical knowledge. Strengthening this area of practice requires structured education, clear safety protocols, legal and psychological support, interprofessional documentation systems, competency standards, and policy recognition. Making this work visible is essential to advancing forensic psychiatric nursing and building humane, safe, and sustainable postsentence treatment systems.
To evaluate the applicability of the Empowering Support Framework in acute neurological care from nurses' perspectives, focusing on enablers and barriers of implementation. A descriptive qualitative study. Seven focus group interviews were conducted in May 2024 with 21 nurses experienced in caring for individuals with traumatic brain injury and their family members in acute neurological care settings. Participants were recruited from five neurosurgical and neurological wards across four hospitals within a major university hospital network in Finland, including one intensive care unit, one neurosurgical inpatient ward and three neurological inpatient wards. Abductive content analysis was applied to analyse the data. Four key themes were identified: (1) making first contact with family members and strengthening early delivery of information; (2) involving the whole family in the care process; (3) implementing systematic approaches and continuous support through interprofessional collaboration; and (4) ensuring communication flow and continuity of care. The Empowering Support Framework provides a structured approach to strengthening family-centred support, family involvement and continuity of support across the acute care pathway for family members of individuals with TBI. However, its successful implementation requires addressing organizational challenges, strengthening interprofessional collaboration and enhancing nurses' competencies through systematic education. Organizational conditions, such as resource availability and nurses' education, influence the implementation of family-centred care. Promoting interprofessional collaboration and strengthening nurses' competencies may reduce fragmented practices and improve continuity of care. These findings can support the development of consistent and equitable practices for supporting family members in acute neurological care. Reported in line with the COREQ (Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research). No Patient or Public Contribution.
Patients with obesity who are admitted to an ICU bring specific challenges for rehabilitation during and after critical illness. This narrative review explores impact of differences in body compositions and pathophysiology on outcomes to summarise interprofessional, patient-centred rehabilitation strategies across the trajectory of recovery. The interprofessional expert panel reviewed major trials and guidelines, integrating their clinical expertise with the current evidence. Three distinct phenotypes potentially influence outcomes for survivors. Whilst patients with preserved muscle mass may have a survival advantage, the phenotypes characterised by ectopic visceral fat or sarcopenia are frequently complicated by multimorbidity and polypharmacy, likely increasing the risk of adverse effects such as suboptimal sedation, prolonged ventilation and immobilisation, malnutrition, and impaired recovery. Targeted respiratory interventions, including secretion-clearance techniques and appropriate patient positioning to prevent atelectasis, reduce the work of breathing. Optimisation of communication and swallowing function is an essential component for facilitating safe oral intake and promoting active patient participation in rehabilitation. Concurrently, targeted nutrition strategies combined with early, targeted, progressive mobilisation might mitigate ICU acquired weakness and support functional recovery. The availability of appropriate weight‑based equipment is fundamental to ensuring safe mobilisation for both patients and healthcare professionals. Interprofessional collaboration is central to optimising outcomes and should extend beyond the ICU to structured post-ICU follow-up to address persistent, worsening, or newly emerging health impairments. Early rehabilitation in critically ill patients with obesity should integrate physiological, logistical, and psychosocial considerations to support equitable and functional recovery.
To examine how registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) working in skilled nursing and long-term care settings experience dysphagia and cognitive-communication disorder (CCD) care, with attention to barriers, facilitators and frontline adaptive strategies. Nurses play a central role in implementing care for individuals with dysphagia and CCD; however, care delivery is often shaped by inconsistent training, limited interprofessional coordination and variable institutional support, contributing to gaps between evidence-based recommendations and practice. Qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 nurses (9 RNs, 10 LPNs). Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Three interrelated themes were identified describing: (1) the visibility gap between dysphagia and cognitive-communication disorders (CCD) in everyday nursing practice, (2) systemic and interprofessional barriers shaping care implementation and (3) the emotional and ethical burdens associated with frontline nursing care. Dysphagia was consistently prioritised as an immediate safety concern, whereas CCD remained less visible and was often managed through informal practices. Nurses play a central role in translating clinical recommendations into everyday care practice. Dysphagia was consistently prioritised as an immediate patient safety concern, whereas CCD appeared less visible and less systematically managed within routine nursing care. Variability in training, communication and institutional support contributes to inconsistencies in care delivery.
Rapid integration of genomics into clinical practice has increased the demand for genetic counselling services. While the genetic counsellor (GC) profession is well established in the Anglo-American healthcare systems, the D-A-CH countries, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, operate under distinct, physician-led legal frameworks. To ensure high-quality care and professional mobility, a harmonised definition of the GC's role is necessary. The newly founded GfH Commission for GCs, in collaboration with the national human genetics societies of Germany (GfH), Austria (ÖGH), and Switzerland (SGMG), the Association of German Human Geneticists (BVDH), and the Swiss Association of GCs (ASCG), conducted a multi-stage consensus-building process. The methodology involved a comparative analysis of national legal prerequisites and the application of the entrustable professional activities framework to define the interprofessional interface between GCs and medical geneticists (MGs). The resulting scope of practice (SoP) categorizes competencies across three clinical phases: pre-counselling preparation, the active counselling process, and post-analytical follow-up. The SoP distinguishes between independent GC tasks, shared clinical responsibilities, and tasks requiring MGs. Key to this model is the preservation of the legal physician-prerogative for aspects like the final medical diagnosis and test-ordering while maximizing the GC's contribution to patient-centred communication and care. This cross-border consensus represents a landmark in European professional policy, providing a scalable blueprint for the integration of GCs into regulated medical systems. By harmonising standards across the D-A-CH countries, the SoP ensures quality assurance, provides a robust evidence base for future legislative recognition and reimbursement of GCs, and facilitates professional mobility in Europe. Genetic counsellor, professional policy, D-A-CH region, interprofessional collaboration, entrustable professional activities, scope of practice, Genetische Fachberater, GfH, ÖGH, SGMG, BVDH, ASCG.
To identify, categorize, and appraise rehabilitation-specific quality indicators (QIs) with generic applicability for evaluating interprofessional rehabilitation care. Peer-reviewed literature was searched through PubMed and Web of Science. Grey literature was retrieved through Google Scholar, websites on professional quality standards and national QI repositories, reference tracking and expert consultation. Two reviewers independently screened 4,423 records following predefined eligibility criteria. Seventy-nine sources explicitly reporting QIs for rehabilitation were included (52 from peer-reviewed literature and 27 from grey literature). Two reviewers independently extracted data on 1,070 QIs, including indicator characteristics and development processes. Methodological quality was appraised by three reviewers using the Appraisal of Indicators through Research and Evaluation (AIRE) instrument. All extracted QIs were assessed on their generic applicability and measurability. After duplicate removal, 23 indicator sets were retained with 177 QIs. Only five indicator sets demonstrated a strong methodological foundation based on domain 1-3 ≥50% of the AIRE instrument. These five sets included 77 QIs of which 46 were identified as rehabilitation-specific and mapped to the WHO quality domains, predominantly people-centred (n = 19) and effective (n = 16), followed by integrated (n = 6), with minimal representation of safe (n = 2), timely (n = 2) and efficient (n = 1). According to the Donabedian framework, the majority of rehabilitation-specific QIs were process indicators (n = 42), while only four were outcome indicators. This review provides the first overview of rehabilitation-specific QIs with generic applicability and a strong methodological foundation. These findings can inform the selection and implementation of meaningful indicators to enhance the quality of interprofessional rehabilitation care. As such, these rehabilitation-specific QIs can serve as a starting point for quality improvement initiatives, including audit and feedback and benchmarking.
Interprofessional collaboration between physicians and pharmacists is important for ensuring medication safety. Community pharmacists play a vital role in this process through prescription recommendations to physicians. Assertiveness, defined as a communication style that attempts to enhance mutual understanding while respecting both oneself and others, is recognized as useful for making prescription recommendations. Based on the concept of assertiveness, "functional assertiveness," which focuses on achieving tasks while maintaining interpersonal relationships, has been proposed and the Functional Assertiveness Scale (FAS) was developed to evaluate it. Although functional assertiveness has been reported to be useful for achieving the task of ensuring medication safety while maintaining professional relationships with physicians, its applicability to community pharmacists has not been verified. This study aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the FAS for Japanese community pharmacists and evaluate its utility. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire targeting 2,190 community pharmacists between July and September 2025. Structural validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's α coefficient. Construct validity was verified by calculating Spearman's rank correlation coefficients between FAS scores and the Assertive Self-expression (AS) score of the Interprofessional Assertiveness Scale. Analysis was performed on 415 participants (mean age 41.0 years; 54.9% women). EFA confirmed a two-factor structure consistent with the original scale. CFA showed good model fit based on SRMR (0.048); however, CFI (0.893) and TLI (0.867) were slightly below conventional thresholds. Cronbach's α for the total FAS was 0.85, indicating good internal consistency. Construct validity was supported by a significant positive correlation between FAS total score and AS score (rho = 0.34, p < 0.01). FAS demonstrated sufficient reliability and a clear two-factor structure for application among Japanese community pharmacists. Our findings suggest that FAS serves as a useful tool for objectively measuring functional assertiveness among community pharmacists. On the other hand, the CFA results indicate the need for future item optimization specifically tailored to pharmacy practice. Further studies are needed to develop a pharmacist-specific version to contribute to evaluating educational programs and enhance interpersonal communication in pharmacy practice.