Enabling Interprofessional Collaboration Learning Environment Across Disciplines

Purpose: This abstract is to show results of enabling interprofessional collaboration leaning environment across disciplines and across schools. Healthcare teams are becoming increasingly complex, yet current university-based health professional education programs provide limited opportunities for learners to apply critical decision-making skills in patient care. Evidence demonstrates that interprofessional collaborative programs addressing the shortage of health professionals in rural areas enable students to be more practice-prepared to apply learnt skills in the management of patients in real clinical contexts, as well as achieving positive learning outcomes. An interprofessional collaboration program named ‘Simulated Interprofessional Learning in a Vertically Integrated Environment in Rural, Regional and Remote Queensland (SILVER-Q)’ was developed by a medical school in Queensland, and implemented collaboratively with School of Nursing in Australian rural areas in 2017.

Methods: Narrative analysis was undertaken of an interprofessional collaboration program. Feedback will be provided to students at the end of each practice, as well as providing opportunities for reflections with supervisions individually and as a group. Supervisors only intervene or assist if they observe a critical error or when students are struggling to continue. All participants are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Results: Positive findings from participants was received. The results include meeting learning needs, perceptions of becoming more ‘workplace ready’, increasing desire to work with other health professionals, improving ability to communicate and work effectively in regard to the doctor-nurse professional relationships, providing opportunities to develop clinical reasoning skills and main themes were ‘enhancing confidence level’, ‘communicate more with colleagues’.

Conclusion: Although feedback and comments received from participants (medical, nursing students, academics, administrators, lay people as patients) was positive, little is known of the influencing factors and self-efficacy levels relating to the intervention program. Thus, future implications are to revise the program guiding by identified self-efficacy model, evaluate the new innovative evidence and improve the theoretical based program.