Advancing Interprofessional Collaboration in Nursing Education

Abstract

Assessment of current nursing education pedagogies is necessary to evaluate how nursing faculty prepare future nurses for today's interprofessional collaborative healthcare practice settings. Increased complexity of patient care requires registered nurses to practice interprofessional collaborative care once in the practice setting. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe and understand the process of nurse educators teaching interprofessional collaboration to student nurses in a Louisiana pre-licensure baccalaureate-nursing program. Integrating interprofessional concepts and competencies in the classroom and clinical practice settings is vital in teaching students to perform successfully in current complex, bureaucratic, interprofessional care environments. Components of the theoretical framework for the study included Ray's theory of bureaucratic caring, complexity theory, and transformational learning theory. Interrelated concepts, assumptions, and generalizations of the blended theories appropriately supported the study's foundation and efficacy of findings. As interprofessional collaboration is gaining momentum in the healthcare environment, nurse educators can be key players in a teaching-learning dynamic that encourages positive patient outcomes and a changing healthcare paradigm. This study gathered perspectives about preparing competent students for interprofessional collaborative practice from nurse educators in a Louisiana prelicensure, baccalaureate-nursing program. Triangulating evidence from multiple data sources led to converging lines of inquiry. Findings indicated the majority of nurse educators describe their role in preparing students for interprofessional collaborative practice using classroom, clinical and simulation teaching strategies. Clinical environments were most often described as settings in which students gain the most knowledge through actual participation with the interprofessional team. Findings from this study indicate a need for curriculum changes and enhanced faculty development programs on interprofessional collaboration in nursing education. Educators and nursing programs can learn from this case study to develop teaching strategies to promote conducive interprofessional collaborative learning environments aiding students in the preparation for professional nursing practice.