Teaching ideas for generating critical and constructive insights into well‐functioning multidisciplinary mental health teams

Abstract

PurposeIt is now common place for mental health services to operate using multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) where several health professionals simultaneously maintain their disciplinary distinctiveness and assume complementary professional roles. This requires awareness of other team members' disciplines and good team‐work skills. Yet in Australia, the preparation of health professionals continues to occur primarily in single‐discipline programs, where interaction with other disciplines often only occurs in an ad hoc, time‐limited way during clinical placement. This paper seeks to provide serious reflection on preparing students for the multidisciplinary practice within the mental health system.Design/methodology/approachThe authors introduce a student placement preparation learning package that was developed and trialled with a range of health professional students at two Australian universities. Transformative learning principles underpinned the development of the education materials and related activities, which were designed to sensitise students to the potential problems that arise within MDTs and to equip them with communication strategies for use in their university placement experiences, as well as in their future professional practice.FindingsThe very large majority of student placement preparation workshop participants rated the workshop activities as extremely helpful. After participating in the activities, the very large majority of participants strongly endorsed the workshop learning objectives of understanding the different roles of MDTs members, skills required for working in MDTs, principles of collaborative team‐work and respectful, positive attitudes to MDTs members.Originality/valueThe transformative learning approaches to education of health professionals which are described in this paper help students to examine ways to think more critically and constructively about MDTs.

A multidisciplinary learning experience contributing to mental health rehabilitation

“…Mental health care is commonly delivered by a team consisting of different clinical disciplines, including: nursing; psychiatry; psychotherapy; psychology; social work; occupational therapy; and other branches of general or specific health disciplines [5] [6].…”

“…For future health professionals, typical clinical placements are not often conducive to highlighting the importance of multidisciplinary mental health care to individualized care and recovery. McAllister et al [6] contend that 'the preparation of health professionals occurs primarily in single-discipline programs, where interaction with other disciplines often only occurs in an ad hoc, time-limited way. ' Mann et al [10] explain that a fully integrated educational experience, which involves a number of health disciplines in joint learning experiences, is what is needed to effectively prepare health professionals to work collaboratively in health care teams.…”

“…Honan et al [11] goes onto argue that not only can shared learning among health professional students improve collaboration, but it can also improve patient outcomes. McAllister et al [6] discuss recent evidence which shows that when future health professional students are well-prepared for MDTs, they appreciate the skills and ideas that others can bring to patient care, as well as develop person-centered collaborative skills. Further empirical research is required to determine whether a fully integrated educational experience, involving a multidisciplinary cohort of future health professionals, can effectively prepare future health professionals to work collaboratively in the field of mental health.…”

Multidisciplinary Teams in Rural and Remote Mental Health

“…Finally, successful MDTs play an important role in the education, training, and ultimately recruitment of new staff to desperately needy rural and remote areas. While barriers and challenges to cross-disciplinary learning exist, there are many benefits of integrated and multidisciplinary mental health service learning models that may be attributed to their patient focus as well as to their adaptation to case complexity (Morrissey et al 2011;McAllister et al 2011). Integrating and sharing learning across disciplines provide cross-fertilization of skills and experience across services and regions.…”

Mental health interprofessional education for health professions students: bridging the gaps

“…A recently developed "Learning Package" (LP) for providing IPE for nursing, psychology and occupational students prior to their engaging in practical placements (Morrissey et al, 2010) was funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and evaluated with three groups of students at two Australian universities. Outcomes showed that the LP enhanced interprofessional knowledge, and improved understanding and communication skills across professions (McAllister et al, 2011).…”