Health Promotion: Planning & Strategies
Norway
New strategies for teaching students interdisciplinary collaboration: A case study of student internship in Norway
Kari Ingstad, Hennie Skaufel
Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Nord University, Levanger, Norway
Keywords: Health promotion, interdisciplinary collaboration, interdisciplinary education, rehabilitation
Summary
Health care students preparing for their roles require quality clinical education so they are prepared to assume collaborative roles in healthcare settings. However, universities are struggling to teach students collaboration skills. This case study describes experiences with an internship model in which students from three different professions together led and ran a rehabilitation unit. We find that such interdisciplinary practical education appears to break down barriers between disciplines and promote confidence in interdisciplinary collaboration and in the professional role. Further, we see that interdisciplinary practical education can be challenging to organize. We argue for a paradigm shift in healthcare education to provide an interdisciplinary-enabling environment to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration.