Centres for Clinical Education (CCE): developing the health care education of tomorrow--a preliminary report

A new interdisciplinary concept of medical and health care education has been introduced at Karolinska Institute in collaboration with the County Council in Stockholm under the motto Learning together to be able to work together. Centres of Clinical Education are built up in four major hospitals to promote meeting places during clinical education for students from different categories. During a three-year project more than 5000 students from four educational programmes have been involved--medicine, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. The project started in 1998 and will turn into regular activities in 2002. The Centres consist of three parts. First is the Clinical Training Ward, a ward without patients where manual skills as well as skills in communication are taught, practised and videotaped. Second is the Clinical Education Ward, a student-driven ward where students during two-week periods experience their own professional roles in day-to-day work and learn how to work together. Third is the Multidisciplinary Team, where teachers from the four programmes plan and provide opportunities for students to learn together. Opportunities to meet and learn together have promoted a wider understanding of each professional in health care teams among students and staff. The Centres of Clinical Education provide excellent opportunities to bridge professional borders and to coordinate undergraduate studies and clinical reality.