Maximising the Integration of Medical and Nursing Students in Clinical Learning Environments: An Australian Perspective

Abstract

Within clinical practice settings, effective teamwork is essential for medical and nursing professionals to provide safe and effective patient care. There is evidence that, through team communication and collaboration, healthcare efficiencies are improving. However, historically medical and nursing students have been educated and largely practice separately from each other, presenting barriers to further improvements. While funding bodies, governments, and, in particular, health departments can see the value in fostering and enabling interprofessional learning between medical and nursing students, the reality is that putting into operation this kind of learning in clinical contexts is ambitious and complex. In universities, the medical and nursing curricula are often conceptually very different, and programmes not easily aligned. Moreover, the clinical practice experience for both professional groups is focused on the development of profession-specific knowledge (i.e., medicine or nursing). This specificity is reflected in the structure and supervision during the clinical placements where students are located in their respective professional silos. Therefore, strategies and activities are required within the clinical context to influence and enable interprofessional student learning. Academics and clinicians need to give commitment and consideration to effectively structuring learning opportunities for interprofessional practice.