Therefore, academic nursing holds responsibility for collaboration to imparting graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to be effective members of interprofessional teams. As nursing education shifts to a more more online presence, nurse educators must implement innovative approaches in the online classroom that afford learners engagement in learning activities that build these skills. Interprofessional education can be more effective, when driven by a design and teaching team that represents the wide spectrum of interprofessional disciplines, thus giving students direct exposure and engagement in collaboration.
METHODS: MacKenzie et al. (2014) have established that organizational support and faculty collaboration are essential elements for a successful interprofessional education program. Within this context at a single-purpose institution, an interdisciplinary team was recruited to create a course on interprofessional practice and team-based care. This collaborative design model mirrors the collaborative content of the course. As the course evolved, the interdisciplinary design team members identified unique resolutions during lived experiences of conflicting andragogical values and work ethics.
The collaborative nature of the course is continued in its instructional approach: the course is taught by an interdisciplinary team, ensuring student exposure to mentorship from varying professional backgrounds. Through structured learning activities, students gain additional primary exposure to differing perspectives in the spectrum of care professionals.
Ultimately, the students themselves must demonstrate competence in collaboration through a group project. Using transparency in teaching and learning (TILT) (DuBois, 2018), the group project requires students to experience the challenges and rewards of collaboration in action.
RESULTS: Quantitative and qualitative data in course reviews, as well as student performance on standardized assessments, provide insight into the remarkable success of this teaching model that emphasizes the primary values of communication and mission in successful interprofessional collaboration. This course model which incorporates and integrates collaboration at every level provides students with an exceptional interprofessional educational experience.