Olsson CB1,2, Nilsson J1,2, Toth-Pal E1,2, Fridén C1
1Karolinska Institutet, Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Stockholm, Sweden, 2Academic Primary Healthcare Centre, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden
Background: Interprofessional collaboration is known to improve patient safety, increase job satisfaction, and reduce stress among healthcare professionals. Ability to interact with other professions and to have knowledge of, as well as understanding and respect for other professionals´ function, role and ethical values, facilitates collaborative practice. Students should already during their initial training have the opportunity to experience interprofessional interaction.
Purpose: To evaluate person-centered home visits as an interprofessional learning activity for undergraduate students during clinical placements in primary healthcare.
Methods: Three to four students from different education programs and supervisors from different professions were invited to participate in the learning activity. The students prepared themselves before the home visit by reading a brief description of the patient history and by deciding who was responsible for doing what during the visit. A supervisor attended the home visit but the students were responsible for the anamnesis and for making relevant assessments. Afterwards, the students discussed and made a joint care plan for the patient. Thereafter, a seminar took place where students and supervisors from different professions discussed the outcome together and reflected on each other´s different professional roles. The students answered a questionnaire about the activity where the answer was given on a scale (1-10) where 1="do not agree at all", and 10="completely agree". The participating patients also answered a questionnaire about their experience of the home visit. The questionnaires were analyzed with descriptive statistics, and Kruskal-Walli´s test was used for detecting differences at group level.
Results: Totally 30 interprofessional home visits were completed. A total of 109 students from six different healthcare professions (dietician, medical, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy students) and 30 patients participated in the activity and answered the questionnaires. The students felt that they had gained insight into how different professions could collaborate (median 9, min 4, max10) and an increased understanding of teamwork (median 9, min 3, max 10) as well as for the other professions´ areas of competence (median 9, min 3, max 10). The medical students did not experience that they had gained insight into their future professional role and their own role in teamwork to the same extent as other professions. The students felt that the patient´s needs for care (median 9, min 4, max 10) and rehabilitation (median 9, min 2, max 10) had been highlighted. Medical, nursing and dietician students did not experience that the patient´s need for medical care had been noticed to the same extent as other professions. All patients were very satisfied with the visits and felt that they had been listened to, and treated with respect by the students.
Conclusion(s): The students felt that participation in the interprofessional home visit increased their understanding of collaboration and other professions' skills. The patients were positive to the activity and felt they were treated with respect.
Implications: The positive results of the study indicate that the learning activity could be used in primary healthcare settings to promote students interprofessional learning.
Keywords: clinical education, Interprofessional learning
Funding acknowledgements: The study was supported by grants provided by the Stockholm County Council (ALF project).
Purpose: To evaluate person-centered home visits as an interprofessional learning activity for undergraduate students during clinical placements in primary healthcare.
Methods: Three to four students from different education programs and supervisors from different professions were invited to participate in the learning activity. The students prepared themselves before the home visit by reading a brief description of the patient history and by deciding who was responsible for doing what during the visit. A supervisor attended the home visit but the students were responsible for the anamnesis and for making relevant assessments. Afterwards, the students discussed and made a joint care plan for the patient. Thereafter, a seminar took place where students and supervisors from different professions discussed the outcome together and reflected on each other´s different professional roles. The students answered a questionnaire about the activity where the answer was given on a scale (1-10) where 1="do not agree at all", and 10="completely agree". The participating patients also answered a questionnaire about their experience of the home visit. The questionnaires were analyzed with descriptive statistics, and Kruskal-Walli´s test was used for detecting differences at group level.
Results: Totally 30 interprofessional home visits were completed. A total of 109 students from six different healthcare professions (dietician, medical, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy students) and 30 patients participated in the activity and answered the questionnaires. The students felt that they had gained insight into how different professions could collaborate (median 9, min 4, max10) and an increased understanding of teamwork (median 9, min 3, max 10) as well as for the other professions´ areas of competence (median 9, min 3, max 10). The medical students did not experience that they had gained insight into their future professional role and their own role in teamwork to the same extent as other professions. The students felt that the patient´s needs for care (median 9, min 4, max 10) and rehabilitation (median 9, min 2, max 10) had been highlighted. Medical, nursing and dietician students did not experience that the patient´s need for medical care had been noticed to the same extent as other professions. All patients were very satisfied with the visits and felt that they had been listened to, and treated with respect by the students.
Conclusion(s): The students felt that participation in the interprofessional home visit increased their understanding of collaboration and other professions' skills. The patients were positive to the activity and felt they were treated with respect.
Implications: The positive results of the study indicate that the learning activity could be used in primary healthcare settings to promote students interprofessional learning.
Keywords: clinical education, Interprofessional learning
Funding acknowledgements: The study was supported by grants provided by the Stockholm County Council (ALF project).
Topic: Education: clinical; Education: methods of teaching & learning
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Ethics committee: The Regional Ethic’s Committee at the Karolinska Institutet
Ethics number: Dnr: 2016/1025-31
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
