Effective interprofessional education and collaborative practice in nursing education

Don’t forget the webinar

In a time of health care redesign in the United States, today’s health professionals are called to understand the complexity of patients’ health needs. For the nursing profession and nursing education, this understanding has two major implications: 1) Nurses are expected to use knowledge from several disciplines to treat patients, and 2) A coordinated interprofessional approach is needed to deliver quality care (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard & Day 2010; World Health Organization [WHO], 2010). Yet, recent reports express concern about the current capacity of nursing education to adapt to these demands, considering the shortage of nurse faculty and mentors (Benner et al.). Also, research shows concern about the inability of health professionals to work together due to poor communication and collaborative practices (Brandt, 2015). Both concerns, if unattended, can have adverse effects on the health outcomes of patients.

This webinar will discuss the principles of Interprofessional education and collaborative practice and discuss how to develop opportunities to engage nursing students in interactive learning with those outside their profession so that, when they enter the workplace, they have the baseline knowledge and confidence for team interactions that lead to better patient care. Because students learn from what they experience, students who engage in collaborative activities in their learning will be more likely to bring a collaborative approach to their work as practitioners (Speakman, 2015).