Maximizing co-training opportunities on a traditional health sciences campus

Abstract

Both the economics and the science of modern healthcare demand that the best patient care be delivered by an integrated team of healthcare providers, each expert in their own field, but also expert in the ability to function well as a team member. Functioning as a member of a complex team is not intuitive, and even the best educated among us needs additional instruction to do this well. But even the best schools of nursing and medicine, especially those with longer histories and more traditional curricula, may not be designed to support this type of instruction. Practical considerations such as accreditation needs, administration, budget lines, and even physical facilities tend to “silo” instruction by discipline.

We argue that even in institutions with traditional curricula, there are numerous opportunities to co-train nursing, medical, and other healthcare students and faculty if we remain open to possibilities.

This article presents five brief case-studies of co-training events where nursing, medical, and other healthcare students and/or faculty learn in the same environment with minimal administrative effort including: (1) the Certificate in Health Professions Education program; (2) workshops on Increasing Cultural Competence; (3) the iCOPE project in interdiscip-
linary palliative care; (4) joint daily rounding in an urban children’s hospital; and (5) providing care in the Teen Age Parent Program (TAPP).