Call the on-Call: Authentic Team Training on an Interprofessional Training Ward - A Case Study.

Purpose: There is a disconnect between how healthcare teams commonly are trained and how they act in reality. The purpose with this paper was to present a learning activity that prepares healthcare students to authentic teamwork where team members are fluent and move between different localities, and to explore how this setting affects learning. Methods: A learning activity "Call the On-Call" consisting of two elements, workplace team training where team members are separated into different locations, and a telephone communication exercise, was created. A case study approach using mixed methods was adopted to explore medical-, nurse-, physiotherapy- and occupational therapy students and supervisor perspectives of the effects of the learning activity. Data collection involved surveys, notes from reflection sessions, a focus group interview, and field observations. Thematic analysis was applied for qualitative data and descriptive statistics for quantitative data. The sociocultural learning theory, social capital theory, was used to conceptualize and analyse the findings. Results: The majority of the students (n=198) perceived that the learning activity developed their interprofessional and professional competence, but to a varying degree. Especially nursing students found value in the learning activity, above all due to increased confidence in calling a doctor. Physio- and occupational therapy students lacked the opportunity to be active during the telephone exercise, however, they described how it increased their interprofessional competence. Authenticity was highlighted as the key strength of the learning activity from all professions. Concerns that team building would suffer as a result of splitting the student team proved unfounded. Conclusion: The learning activity created new opportunities for students to reflect on interprofessional collaboration. Constant physical proximity during training is not essential for effective healthcare team building. Splitting the student team during training may in fact enhance interprofessional learning and lead to progression in interprofessional communication.

Call the On-Call: a study of student learning on an interprofessional training ward.

Interprofessional training wards are designed to train students' team and communication competences. Such wards are generally highly valued clinical placements by undergraduate students; however, evidence in the literature suggests that medical students experience a lack of profession-specific tasks on these wards. Moreover, students lack structured training in the complexities of everyday communication where different health professions rarely are present together in stable teams. This paper reviews one strategy to train students in interprofessional communication while letting students perform profession-specific tasks. A qualitative study with ethnographically-collected data was conducted among three interprofessional student teams over three two-week periods, mixing field observations (75 h), interviews (n = 16), and field notes (45 pages). The findings show that students gained insights into new aspects of their professional roles and an appreciation of clear and open interprofessional communication over the telephone. Learning was facilitated through being confronted with new situations and discussing these experiences with each other over time. Call the On-Call as a pedagogic activity provided not just medical students, but also nursing students with new types of profession-specific tasks on the interprofessional training ward.