ABSTRACT
AIMS: Demography of patients and complexity in the management of multimorbid conditions has made collaborative practice a necessity for the future, also in Switzerland. Since 2012, the University of Applied Sciences (UAS) and its Healthcare School as well as the University of Geneva (UG) with its Medical Faculty have joined forces to implement a training program in collaborative practice, using simulation as one of the main learning/teaching process. METHODS: The actual program consists of three sequential modules and totalizes 300 h of teaching and learning for approximately 1400-1500 students from six tracks (nutritionists, physiotherapists, midwives, nurses, technologists in medical radiology, physicians); in 2019 another hundred pharmacists will also be included. The main issues addressed by the modules are Module 1: the Swiss healthcare system and collaborative tools. Module 2: roles and responsibilities of the different health professionals, basic tools acquisition in team working (situation monitoring, mutual support, communication). Module 3: the axis of quality and safety of care through different contexts and cases. CONCLUSIONS: A very first evaluation of the teaching and learning and particularly on the aspects of acquisition of collaborative tools shows positive attitudes of students towards the implementation of this new training program. Furthermore, a pre-post questionnaire on teamwork aspects reveals significant modifications.
Subject(s)
Communication , Group Processes , Health Occupations/education , Interprofessional Relations , Attitude of Health Personnel , Clinical Competence , Cooperative Behavior , Humans , Patient Care Team/organization & administration , Patient Safety/standards , Patient Simulation , Professional Role , Quality of Health Care/standards , SwitzerlandABSTRACT
The School of Health of Geneva (SHG, part of the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland) introduced interprofessional education (IPE) in its Bachelor Programs in 2012. IPE is an approach that encourages collaboration between health care professionals, optimizing health care quality and decision-making processes. The aim of this article is to describe the implementation and evaluation of IPE at our Institution. IPE is a didactic program, comprising discussion about fictional clinical cases, simulated practice and project management, dispensed by an interdisciplinary academic team. Training is focused on communication and collaboration between students of the five health departments of our Institution and students from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Geneva University. The IPE program concerns on average 1000 future caregivers per year. Skill development resulting from IPE will be evaluated by an IPE research team via a student cross-sectional study, using the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). The results will be used for validating the French version of the RIPLS.
