Educators working together for interprofessional education: From “fragmented beginnings” to being “intentionally interprofessional”

Supporting nursing and allied health student placements in rural and remote Australia: a narrative review of publications by university departments of rural health

University departments of rural health are Commonwealth-funded to improve recruitment and retention of the rural allied health and nursing (including midwifery) workforce, primarily through student placements. We examined publications by university departments of rural health that were focused on allied health and nursing students undertaking placements in rural Australia, to understand the characteristics, main findings and implications of the research conducted. Interprofessional learning was a key feature of placements and placement education, although other activities such as community engagement added to placement experiences. Factors such as quality supervision and being involved in the community contributed to a positive placement experience and increased rural practice intention. Tracking studies showed a relationship between rural placements, rural practice intention and rural practice. Rural placements occurred across a variety of settings and in locations consistent with the policy framework. Embedding university departments of rural health in rural communities enabled staff to build relationships and increase placement capacity.

Collegiality among social- and health care educators in higher education or vocational institutions: A mixed-method systematic review

BACKGROUND

Social- and health care educators collaborate on national and international levels; this collaboration is intrinsically related to collegiality, a concept which has only been scarcely studied among social- and health care educators.

OBJECTIVES

To identify the best evidence on social- and health care educators' experiences of collegiality and factors influencing it in educational institutions.

DESIGN

A mixed-methods systematic review.

DATA SOURCES

Keywords were defined according to PICo and PEO inclusion and exclusion criteria. A search was performed across five databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Medic, Scopus, and ProQuest) for articles published in Finnish and/or English REVIEW METHODS: During the screening process, three researchers separately screened original studies by title and abstract (n = 806), and subsequently, based on the full-text (n = 40). The JBI Qualitative Assessment Research Instrument was used to evaluate qualitative studies, while the Critical Appraisal Checklist for Analytical Cross-sectional Studies was used to evaluate quantitative studies.

RESULTS

The systematic review included a total of 15 articles. Collegiality among social- and health care educators was described through united and safe work culture, along with the dissemination of relevant expertise. The benefits of mentoring, communication on national and international levels, and collaboration are all issues that affect an educator's work. In the context of social- and health care educators, collegiality does not only include the interactions between the educators, but also involves their mentors and supervisors. Mentoring and collaboration between educational institutions were found to be associated with collegiality.

CONCLUSIONS

Collegiality among educators can be maintained through networking, collaboration, mentoring, mutual communication and the consideration of professional ethical issues. It would be important for educational organisations to pay attention to collegiality and encourage educators to collaborate with their colleagues. It is important to emphasise the role of collegiality in the education of new social- and health care teacher candidates and the continuing education of current educators.

Development and testing of an instrument to measure the collegiality competence of social and health care educators

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have investigated the competence of social and health care educators from different perspectives. However, there has been little research on the collegiality competence of social and health educators.

AIM / OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a new collegiality competence instrument (CollegialityComp) designed to enable social and health care educators to self-evaluate their competence in collegiality.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study design for instrument development and psychometric testing.

METHODS

Data were collected in the winter of 2020-2021 from social and health care educators at ten universities of applied sciences and ten vocational institutions in Finland (N = 1179), of whom 243 decided to participate. Face and content validity was assessed by seven experts, while structural validity and internal consistency were evaluated using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha, respectively.

RESULTS

The CollegialityComp development and testing process produced an instrument that includes 35 items representing five factors: (1) individual-centered collaboration, (2) educator action and fairness, (3) collaboration among colleagues, (4) collaboration outside the organization, and (5) communication and trust.

CONCLUSION

The CollegialityComp instrument can be used to measure the collegiality competence of social and health care educators in the context of vocational and higher education. It may also be useful during the training of teacher candidates.

Understanding the elements of a quality rural/remote interprofessional education activity: A rough guide

AIMS

To offer a rough guide to a quality rural/remote interprofessional educational activity.

CONTEXT

Australian remote and rural interprofessional undergraduate placements offered in Modified Monash Model 3-6 locations.

APPROACH

Biggs' triple P framework from the interprofessional educational literature and Allport's contact hypothesis are used to describe map, and explore the educational dimensions and positive elements, of a quality rural/remote interprofessional educational activity.

CONCLUSION

Delivery of a quality interprofessional educational activity requires attention to all dimensions of the activity with acknowledgement of the value of the remote or rural contexts. Interprofessional learning requires constructive alignment and positive contact conditions to ensure a quality and sustained experience.

Learning person-centredness interprofessionally: an uneasy student journey

Patient- or person-centered care is a discourse embraced by most clinicians involved in interprofessional care but generally overlooks thepersons of the practitioners and students involved. This paper explores students' developing perceptions of person-centered care during participation in an interprofessional education program where interprofessional pairs of students partner with patients living with a long-term condition or life-changing event. Weekly focus groups with students and educators over the 7 weeks of the program revealed a rich evolving understanding of person-centredness amongst participant students as they built relationships with both their patient and student partner. Students and educators identified shifts in students' interprofessional person-centered perspectives and practices, growing awareness of patient personhood and of stories as key to creating and maintaining space for listening and dialogue, and conscious attention to thoughtful, non-judgmental listening and responses. Although initially uncomfortable, uncertain and "stuck" students came to value working in a holistic relational partnership to explore what mattered to the patient, looking beyond the diagnosis to the multi-faceted nature of living with a life-changing condition or event. Importantly, students' growing self-awareness and participation as persons enhanced person-centredness, leading to questioning of previous healthcare practice experiences where mutual person-centredness was overlooked. Uncertainty about student capability led some educators to reassert control of the process, which students perceived as counterproductive usurping of their personhood and professional autonomy. The research findings suggest that an interprofessional program focused on person-centered relationship building develops student awareness and understanding of mutual personhood but requires high levels of reciprocal trust.

Launching first-year health sciences students into collaborative practice: Highlighting institutional enablers and barriers to success

Developing and sustaining a comprehensive interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum infused throughout health science programmes at large post-secondary institutions requires not only champions within each program but also collaboration across professional programmes and strong support at an institutional level. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it reports on the development of an interprofessional learning pathway, an institutional curricular model, and the pathway launch, an introductory learning experience within the context of a large post-secondary institution. The interprofessional curricular model provides a framework to connect the IPE that was previously fragmented across faculties and professional programmes into a scaffolded coherent pathway. The launch exposes students to the principles and competencies of collaborative practice. Second, it explores the dual role of enablers and barriers to IPE within the context of one institution's 20-year experience of developing and delivering. In examining the elements that have sustained the institution's IPE programming, it is highlighted how the seemingly positive elements (e.g., IPE champions and strong university support from central administration) have also served as hindrances within the academy potentially threatening the sustainability and institutionalisation of IPE. We anticipate that this curricular model and learning experiences will provide mechanisms to sustain and foster IPE.