Nurses learning family-oriented interprofessional collaboration

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Health Sciences
• Education

Background:

• Interprofessional collaboration is crucial in primary services.
• A family-oriented education program was implemented in Finland.
• Nurses require specific skills for effective family collaboration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a family-oriented interprofessional education program on nurses.
• To investigate changes in nurses' working methods and views on collaboration.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of interprofessional training for primary service professionals.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study utilizing content analysis.
• Data collected via open-ended questions pre- and post-program.
• Focus on the experiences of 14 participating nurses.

Main Results:

• Nurses recognized the importance of family-oriented interprofessional collaboration but initially lacked practical application.
• Post-program, nurses shifted from expert-centered to client- and family-centered approaches.
• Participants valued interprofessional collaboration and recognized its role in supporting families' resources.

Conclusions:

• Sufficiently long, practice-integrated education is necessary to change professional frameworks and practices.
• The program's success suggests applicability across different settings and countries.
• Interprofessional collaboration training should emphasize practical application during the educational process.