Masters Degrees (Office of the Dean: Health Sciences)
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Browsing Masters Degrees (Office of the Dean: Health Sciences) by Author "Cairncross, J. P."
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Item Open Access The facilitators' perspective of interprofessional education at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State(University of the Free State, 2017-01) Cairncross, J. P.; Steinberg, W. J.English: Collaborative practice in healthcare occurs when various health workers with different areas of professional expertise work together with patients, their families and communities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) published a report that policy makers can apply to their own local context to address the local health needs and improve health outcomes through the implementation of interprofessional education programmes (IPE) that strengthen the health system. IPE can be defined as two or more professions learning “with, from and about each other” when they are brought together around a particular task. In 2014 the IPE programme was piloted at the Faculty of Health Sciences (FoHS), University of the Free State (UFS), and fourth year undergraduate students from the FoHS participated. Facilitators are staff from the different Schools of the FoHS, UFS, who assist small groups of undergraduate students to achieve the key outcomes/ competencies of the IPE programme. This study investigated the facilitators’ perspective, their opinions and attitudes, on the current and future IPE programmes at the FoHS, UFS. A quantitative cross-sectional study was designed by the researcher to investigate the facilitator’s perspective. The objectives of the study included determining the facilitator’s perspective on the current and future IPE programmes. Through the literature review the need for IPE and collaborative practice were identified. The facilitators’ perspective, students’ perspective and the delivery of an IPE programme were also identified. An online survey was emailed to all facilitators who had participated in the last IPE programme in 2015. The findings from the closed-ended questions were analysed and described. Findings from the open-ended questions were tabulated according to themes, categories and subcategories. All findings were discussed and summarised by the researcher. The study generated information on the facilitators’ perspective of the IPE programme that may be valuable in assisting programme coordinators in the development of future IPE programmes. Results indicated that not all facilitators were properly prepared for their role and the challenges they faced while conducting IPE sessions. Facilitators identified the need for additional training on the principles of IPE, conducting small group discussions and debriefing. Shortcomings of the current IPE programme, which do not allow for all students to actively participate with the specific case study, and a need to improve training of the standardised patients (SPs) were identified. Suggestions for future case studies were also made, i.e. to include the psychosocial aspects that can also affect the health of a patient. The study confirmed that key outcomes/ competencies of the IPE programme were being achieved. Facilitators were benefiting from the IPE programme not only by learning about the other healthcare professions but also in terms of their own personal growth and development. The study concludes with recommendations by the researcher to IPE programme coordinators. Undergraduate students should be better prepared regarding what is expected of them. Only facilitators who have completed a preparatory workshop should participate as a facilitator. The workshop should include the principles of IPE, facilitating small group discussions, conducting debriefing sessions and how to manage potential pitfalls that could arise during a session. SPs should be well informed regarding their role for the case study in order to deliver feedback to students. Case studies should be constructed to allow for active participation from all professions. Undergraduate psychology and social work students should be included in future IPE programmes to address the biopsychosocial model of health and illness.