Enhancing the Facilitation of Interprofessional Education Programs: An Institutional Ethnography.

Nadine Ezzeddine,Sheri Lynn Price

doi:10.3390/nursrep11030052

Abstract

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among health care professionals has been identified as essential to enhance patient care. Interprofessional education (IPE) is a key strategy towards promoting IPC. Several factors including the nature of facilitation shape the IPE experience and outcomes for students. Stereotypes held by students have been recognized as a challenge for IPE and IPC. This study aimed to explore institutional rules and regulations that shape facilitators’ work in IPE interactions problematized by students’ stereotypes at a university in Atlantic Canada. Employing institutional ethnography as a method of investigation, data were collected through observations, interviews, focus groups, and written texts (such as course syllabi). Participants included three facilitators, two undergraduate nursing students, and two IPE committee members of an IPE program. Findings revealed four work processes conducted by facilitators in local IPE settings related to students’ stereotypes. These processes were shaped by translocal discourse and included the work used to form teams, facilitate student introductions to team members, facilitate team dynamics, and provide course content and context. Study results included the identification of several strategies to address student stereotypes and enhance collaboration, including directions for future curriculum decisions and the pedagogical organization of IPE.

Highlights

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among health care professionals has been identified as essential to promote safe patient care and is a key consideration in health human resources planning [1]
The investigation in institutional ethnography involves two settings: (1) the local setting, such as an interprofessional education (IPE) classroom where facilitators and students indulge in their IPE experiences as stated by the syllabus, and (2) the translocal, an outside setting where rules and policies are determined remotely and crafted in texts, such as course organizers and ruling committees determining the course syllabi and IPE policies that dictate what happens in IPE class [10]
Our findings revealed four work processes conducted by facilitators in local IPE settings related to the area of concern in this study

Summary

Introduction

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among health care professionals has been identified as essential to promote safe patient care and is a key consideration in health human resources planning [1]. To enhance IPC, interprofessional education (IPE) was introduced into health professions educational programs. IPE “occurs when two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes” [1] The design of several IPE curricula has been guided by competency frameworks to promote collaborative competencies such as the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC) Interprofessional Competency Framework in Canada [2]. The CIHC framework provides six competencies: role clarification, patient/client/family/community-centered care, team functioning, collaborative leadership, interprofessional communication, and interprofessional conflict resolution [2]. The CIHC framework has been adopted at the IPE program this study investigated

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