Collaboration in health care, medical students' perceptions, observations and suggestions

grantor: University of TorontoModern health care requires collaboration between many different professionals. The formal education of health care providers is focused on knowledge and technical expertise, while paying less attention to issues related to teamwork. This thesis reviewed the concept of collaboration in the health care and formal education efforts to foster teamwork in health care. An action research project was implemented, involving a hospital-based pilot program of multiprofessional education. Medical students at the University of Toronto who participated in the program during their first year of medical studies were interviewed three to five years later to explore their perceptions of and clinical experiences with collaboration. The students' conceptualization of collaboration included an understanding of the roles of non-physicians, especially when these professionals provided complementary expertise to the medical profession. The students perceived that collaboration improved patient care. The central role of communication in teamwork was elaborated. Medical students felt that physicians had the primary responsibility to facilitate collaboration. In order to fulfill this function, physicians needed knowledge of the unique roles of other professionals. This knowledge was often obtained in the context of patent care during the clerkship. In patient care settings, structured multiprofessional meetings facilitated teamwork and also served to educate medical students about other professionals. Faculty physicians played a role modeling function by encouraging attendance at these meetings. Most students felt that the pilot multiprofessional education program, conducted early in their training, had been useful, especially with regard to enhancing knowledge about other health care professions. At the pilot multiprofessional education sessions, students of different professions were often at different levels of training. Organizers need to be considerate of potential differences in knowledge and confidence about subject matter between the students of different professions. Medical students suggested that such education interventions, when occurring early in their curriculum, should have goals that were focussed on providing knowledge about other professions. In addition, the program's goals should encourage social interactions among students of the different professions. This action research will widen to include further study of multiprofessional patient care meetings as a practical means of enhancing health professional education about collaboration.Ed.D