Improvement of quality and safety in health care as a new interprofessional learning module – evaluation from students

Abstract

Background

Interprofessional teamwork is in many ways a norm in modern health care, and needs to be taught during professional education.

Description

This study is an evaluation of a newly introduced and mandatory learning module where students from different health profession programs used Improvement of Quality and Safety as a way to develop interprofessional competence in a real-life setting. The intention of this learning module was to integrate interprofessional teamwork within the students’ basic education, and to give students a basic knowledge about Improvement of Quality and Safety. This report focuses on evaluations from the participating students (n=222), mainly medical and nursing students.

Materials and methods

To evaluate this new learning module, a questionnaire was developed and analyzed using a mixed methods design, integrating both qualitative and quantitative methods. The evaluation addressed learning concepts, learning objectives, and interprofessional and professional development.

Results and conclusion

A majority of students responded positively to the learning module as a whole, but many were negative towards specific parts of the learning module and its implementation. Medical students and male students were less positive towards this learning module. Improvements and alterations were suggested.

Keywords:

• interprofessional education
• quality improvement
• IQS
• problem-based learning

Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Paul Batalden (Center for Leadership and Improvement, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, USA), Annika Lindh Falk (Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Linköping University), and Ebba Berglund (the County Council of Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden) for their contributions at different stages of this work. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Disclosure

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and not an official position of the institution. Johanna Dahlberg, Tomas Faresjö, and Mats Hammar have been involved in developing and/or implementing the learning module described. The other authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.