Preparing Nursing Students for Interprofessional Practice: The Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Oncology Palliative Care Education

Abstract

Interprofessional educational experiences for baccalaureate nursing students are essential to prepare them for interprofessional communication, collaboration, and team work. Nurse educators are ideally positioned to develop and lead such initiatives. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and implementation of an interprofessional education (IPE) project involving students in nursing, medicine, social work, and chaplaincy. The Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Oncology Palliative Care Education (iCOPE) project uses team based palliative oncology education as the framework for teaching students interprofessional practice skills. The need for IPE is apparent, but there are very few comprehensive, successful projects for nurse educators to use as models. This article describes the development of the curriculum by the interprofessional faculty team. Issues encountered by nursing faculty members as they implemented the IPE experience are discussed. Solutions developed to address the issues as well as ongoing challenges are presented. This project can serve as a model of a successful IPE initiative involving nursing students.

Interprofessional Team-Based Learning: A Revealing Process for Cultivating Professional Identity among Nursing Students

“…This finding is consistent with another study that posited the development of affective dimension and moral standard in the nurses through reflecting on personal feelings using clinical scenarios [44]. It must be cautioned that the IP content which is either too basic or too advanced would be undesirable as this would create redundancy or frustrations [14]. The scenario in the application exercise and the discussion questions must be carefully designed to engage students to think from a wider perspective.…”

“…A follow up Cochrane review found it difficult to map out how these activities could inform future planning and IP initiatives [15]. Nevertheless, the best model of IP education is yet to be developed [14]. Some of the educators advocated early introduction of IP concept in the curriculum [23], while others implemented IP components when the students gained substantial experiences [14] [24].…”

“…Nevertheless, the best model of IP education is yet to be developed [14]. Some of the educators advocated early introduction of IP concept in the curriculum [23], while others implemented IP components when the students gained substantial experiences [14] [24]. To strengthen the evidence base for IPE and inform curriculum design, a better understanding on how entry-level undergraduate nursing students can benefit from a mix of students from different levels of clinical experiences is needed through an in-depth exploration.…”

A comparative study of interprofessional education in global health care

“…Seventeen studies reported postgraduate level IPE programs on children palliative care, [ 38 ] dental care, [ 32 , 45 , 47 ] social work, [ 26 , 54 ] and gerontology. [ 36 , 64 ] Undergraduate-level IPE programs emphasized the interdisciplinary collaboration, professionals in health care and team work, [ 18 ] dental care, [ 33 , 36 ] crisis management, [ 70 ] palliative oncology care, [ 19 ] ethics and professionalism training, [ 60 ] and psychosocial oncology practice and research. [ 19 ] Undergraduate-level IPE programs were the basic academic programs which were designed to provide IPE and IPCP training.…”

“…[ 36 , 64 ] Undergraduate-level IPE programs emphasized the interdisciplinary collaboration, professionals in health care and team work, [ 18 ] dental care, [ 33 , 36 ] crisis management, [ 70 ] palliative oncology care, [ 19 ] ethics and professionalism training, [ 60 ] and psychosocial oncology practice and research. [ 19 ] Undergraduate-level IPE programs were the basic academic programs which were designed to provide IPE and IPCP training. Most of the IPE programs were conducted as workshops and training within the health care education curricula.…”