Interprofessional clinical education: clinicians' views on the importance of leadership
- Authors: Missen, Karen , Jacob, Elisabeth , Barnett, Tony , Walker, Lorraine , Cross, Dorothy
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Collegian: Journal of the Royal College of Nursing Australia Vol. 19, no. 4 (2012), p. 189-195
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- Description: The current shortage of health professionals necessitates new approaches to clinical education that can expand the number of undergraduate students undertaking clinical placements without increasing the burden on clinical staff or placing patients at risk. Interprofessional education has the potential to help increase clinical capacity whilst enriching students’ clinical experience. This paper reports on a project which investigated the potential for interprofessional education to increase undergraduate clinical placement capacity in clinical settings. The project utilised an exploratory descriptive methodology to obtain the views of health care professionals about the use of interprofessional education in clinical education at three rural health facilities in Victoria, Australia. Participants (n = 57) had a key role with each health care facility in coordinating and facilitating undergraduate clinical placements. This paper examines the clinicians’ views about the central role that leadership plays in actioning interprofessional education in the clinical setting. Whilst interprofessional education was regarded favourably by the majority of participants, data indicated that leadership from education providers, health services, and regulatory authorities was crucial to enable interprofessional education to be implemented and sustained within the clinical learning environment. Without leadership from each of these three spheres of influence, interprofessional education will continue to be difficult to implement for undergraduate students and compromise their exposure to an important aspect of the working life of health care professionals. Such a failure will limit graduates’ readiness for collaborative and cross-disciplinary practice.
Australian clinician's views on interprofessional education for students in the rural clinical setting
- Authors: Jacob, Elisabeth , Barnett, Tony , Missen, Karen , Cross, Dorothy , Walker, Lorraine
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Research in Interprofessional Practice and Education Vol. 2, no. 2 (2012 2012), p. 219-229
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- Description: Background: Collaboration between education providers and clinical agencies to develop models that facilitate cross-disciplinary clinical education for students is essential to produce work-ready graduates. Methods and Findings: This exploratory study investigated the perceptions of and opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE) from the perspectives of 57 clinical staff from three regional/rural health services across Victoria, Australia. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire, interviews, and focus group discussions with staff from 15 disciplinary groups who were responsible for clinical education. Although different views emerged on what IPE entailed, it was perceived by most clinicians to be valuable for students in enhancing teamwork, improving the understanding of roles and functions of team members, and facilitating common goals for patient care. While benefits of IPE could be articulated by clinicians, student engagement with IPE in clinical areas appeared to be limited, largely ad hoc, and opportunistic. Barriers to IPE included: timing of students’ placements, planning and coordination of activities, resource availability, and current regulatory and education provider requirements. Conclusions: Without the necessary resources and careful planning and coordination, the integration of IPE as a part of students’ clinical placement experience will remain a largely untapped resource.
Expanding the clinical placement capacity of rural hospitals in Australia: Displacing Peta to place Paul?
- Authors: Barnett, Tony , Walker, Lorraine , Jacob, Elisabeth , Missen, Karen , Cross, Dorothy , Shahwan-Akl, Lina
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nurse Education Today Vol. 32, no. 5 (2012), p. 485-489
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- Description: In order to identify opportunities to build capacity for clinical placements, we mapped and described the organisation of student placements at three hospitals, each with multiple education providers, in rural Victoria, Australia. Using a cross-sectional, mixed method design, data were collected by survey, interviews and discussion with student placement coordinators representing 16 clinical health disciplines.Teaching and supporting students was regarded as an important part of the service each hospital provided and a useful staff recruitment strategy. There were peaks and troughs in student load over the year, though this was less marked for medicine and dentistry than for nursing and allied health disciplines. Whilst placements were managed largely on a discipline basis, each hospital had taken steps to communicate information about student placements across disciplines and to identify opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE).Placement capacity could be increased by sharing placement data within hospitals, smoothing the utilisation patterns across the year, capitalising on opportunities for IPE when there is concurrent placement of students from different disciplines, and through better employment of underutilised clinical areas. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.