Interprofessional collaborative learning in communitybased practice for students in health - and social educations. Opportunities and challenges related to organization and facilitation.

A joint two year project involving Oslo and Akershus University College and Oslo municipality was conducted to address the issue of "interprofessional collaborative learning" in fieldwork placements. The purpose was that... [ view full abstract ]

A joint two year project involving Oslo and Akershus University College and Oslo municipality was conducted to address the issue of "interprofessional collaborative learning" in fieldwork placements. The purpose was that health- and social care students during their practice period, should meet and learn from, with and about each other. (Barr et al, 2005).

Norwegian health policy and education policy guidelines, state that in the future the health worker must work in a different way in order to provide a better and more comprehensive service to the clients. Students will develop both professional skills and interaction skills. It emphasizes that the best context developing collaborative skills is student’s fieldwork.

A program was developed for an inter-professional collaboration day. Students presented their pre-understanding of each other's profession, received lectures on inter-professional collaboration and worked together on a case example. The groups presented their work and all participants discussed solutions in plenary. All students evaluated the day and theme.

Results: 450 students from 6 different health- and social-care educations participated. The feedback is very positive. Most students scored high on importance of facilitating inter-professional meeting point during the practice period. Likewise, students scored high for learning outcomes for the days programme.
"Amazingly good - why don`t we have more of this?!? This is both practical and useful - not to mention engaging. Very relevant and very informative!"

The conclusion is that students are satisfied with collaboration learning, but anchoring the University must be improved in order to succeed.