How are nurse educators prepared to teach interprofessional practice?

Abstract

Background: When healthcare professionals collaborate and communicate well, patients have better health outcomes. Nursing students need to learn interprofessional team skills before they graduate to succeed. Nurse educators are responsible for preparing students to function in interprofessional teams. However, many nursing programs, especially ones with fewer resources, struggle to teach interprofessional collaboration. Experts agree that the first step in implementing interprofessional education is to provide educators with faculty development. Despite this, little is known about if and how nurse educators are prepared to teach interprofessional concepts.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore nurse educator experiences regarding their preparation to teach interprofessional education and to explore how their preparation influenced their teaching.

Design: A qualitative multiple case study approach was used to gather information regarding nurse educators' preparation to teach interprofessional education. Data were gathered from interviews and educational documents.

Settings: This study involved three different undergraduate RN programs located in the Western United States.

Participants: Data was gathered from three educators from each of the three different undergraduate nursing programs, for a total of nine participants.

Methods: Interview transcripts and educational documents were thematically analyzed using the Interprofessional Education Collaborative's core competencies as a framework.

Results: None of the educators had participated in any type of formal faculty development to prepare them to teach interprofessional collaboration. Most had an incomplete understanding of interprofessional collaborative practice. Few were aware of the resources available to help them incorporate interprofessional collaboration into their curriculum. Although there were isolated instances where participants taught students communication or teamwork concepts, none of the programs explored had any formal interprofessional education in their curricula.

Conclusions: This study's findings support the need for faculty development if leaders expect nursing educators to teach interprofessional collaboration to students.

Keywords: Faculty development; Interprofessional collaboration; Interprofessional education; Multiple case study; Nursing education; Qualitative research; Teamwork.