The evidence base and recommendations for interprofessional education in health and social care.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Della Freeth.
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BACKGROUND: Clinical Skills Centres (CSCs) can ease pressure on clinical skills development and assessment in clinical areas; and provide added value through experiential learning and self-directed learning. Published accounts of innovation in CSCs tell part of this story but little is known about perceptions of students and tutors engaged in day-to-day learning and teaching in CSCs. METHODS: This paper reports one strand of a mixed methods study in a busy multidisciplinary CSC: a questionnaire survey of nursing students' and tutors' perceptions of learning and teaching. Questionnaires focused on items representing commonly espoused views regarding the use and usefulness of CSCs. RESULTS: Students and tutors enjoyed learning and teaching within the CSC, although senior students were slightly muted in their views. All groups valued the supported practice of clinical and communication skills. The CSC was seen as a learning environment that supports the linking of theory and practice. There was some ambivalence, particularly among tutors, about the relationship between performance in the CSC and in clinical areas. DISCUSSION: The favoured pedagogic approach of expert demonstration by tutors followed by supported practice necessitates attention to tutors' training. The muted responses of senior students may signal a need to review the CSC learning experiences offered to them.
Collaborative practice is seen as a core aspect of professional practice and, therefore, a focus of professional education. Current interprofessional and quality assurance literature provides enumeration and discussion of a range of competencies required for effective collaborative practice. Case studies of education and training related to collaborative competences rarely discuss the nature of influences on development, delivery and learning. Barriers to development and delivery have been identified for interprofessional education, but we want to move beyond the mental picture of climbing over or moving around fixed hurdles. Learning opportunities are complex dynamic systems, seeking equilibrium. The creative tension of influences provides opportunities for insightful management. This paper uses the systems-form 3P (presage-process-product) model of learning and teaching (Biggs, 1993) to help examine the nature of educational opportunities designed to promote collaborative working. Presage, process and product factors are identified and discussed. We argue that untangling (or at least seeing) the web of influences on learning to work together promotes critical awareness and encourages more informed and timely decisions.
AIM: This paper presents findings from a multimethod evaluation of an interprofessional training ward placement for medical, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students. CONTEXT: Unique in the UK, and following the pioneering work at Linköping, the training ward allowed senior pre-qualification students, under the supervision of practitioners, to plan and deliver interprofessional care for a group of orthopaedic and rheumatology patients. This responsibility enabled students to develop profession-specific skills and competencies in dealing with patients. It also allowed them to enhance their teamworking skills in an interprofessional environment. Student teams were supported by facilitators who ensured medical care was optimal, led reflective sessions and facilitated students' problem solving. METHODS: Data were collected from all groups of participants involved in the ward: students, facilitators and patients. Methods included questionnaires, interviews and observations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Findings are presented from each participating group, with a particular emphasis placed on the perspective of medicine. The study found that students valued highly the experiential learning they received on the ward and felt the ward prepared them more effectively for future practice. However, many encountered difficulties adopting an autonomous learning style during their placement. Despite enjoying their work on the ward, facilitators were concerned that the demands of their role could result in 'burn-out'. Patients enjoyed their ward experience and scored higher on a range of satisfaction indicators than a comparative group of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Participants were generally positive about the training ward. All considered that it was a worthwhile experience and felt the ward should recommence in the near future.
The need to underpin health and education with a firm evidence base is of increasing significance. Systematic review offers an effective approach to critically assessing research in order to understand its overall impact on practice. Based on 5 years' experience undertaking systematic reviews of interprofessional education, this paper offers guidance for researchers and practitioners about to embark upon systematic review work.
This paper reports the findings from an evaluation of a pilot interprofessional training ward project for pre-qualification medical, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students. This initiative required sustained collaboration from staff based in two National Health Service (NHS) trusts and four schools in three universities. The ward was based on a model of interprofessional education developed in Sweden, but adapted in the light of this experience and also to meet the needs and aspirations of the training ward stakeholders in London. The training ward was evaluated using a multi-method design. Data were collected from all participants involved in this pilot: students, facilitators and patients. The findings from the evaluation are presented and discussed. This paper pays particular attention to the collaborative experiences of the students, staff and institutions involved in this initiative. In addition, 1-year follow-up data collected from the students who had, by then, qualified as clinical practitioners are reported. The paper presents conclusions from the evaluation, and comments on the training ward's strengths, limitations and future development.
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