Evoking a reciprocity of caring: Integration of humanities-based content into an interprofessional education immersion course for advanced practice nursing and health professions students

Abstract

Along with calls to train nurse practitioners to be full partners in healthcare and lead interprofessional collaborative practice teams, there have been calls to enhance health professions education to develop transformative learning experiences, teach the ability to critically observe patients and capture their narrative experience of health, and assist students to become more empathic and communicate more clearly. In a Health Resources and Services Administration-funded advanced nursing education project that included advanced practice nursing, dentistry, pharmacy and social work students, several humanities-based learning strategies were infused into an interprofessional curriculum that was paired with interprofessional collaborative practice at an urban, primary care clinic serving underserved patients with multiple chronic conditions. The current study explored students’ reactions to the humanities-based interprofessional education curriculum using qualitative data from focus groups and reflective journal entries regarding student perceptions of their interprofessional collaborative practice experience in the clinical setting focused on the interprofessional education core competencies. Four major themes were identified that relate to the humanities-based curriculum. Student participants gained confidence in their abilities as health providers, improved their methods of communication and focus with patients, learned how to negotiate ethical situations in support of patient-centeredness, and grew as members of interprofessional collaborative practice teams. Thus, the inclusion of the humanities into nursing and interprofessional education and practice can assist with strengthening presence, promoting moral imagination, and evoking a reciprocity of caring that can lead to improved patient care and outcomes.