No abstract

The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of the organization and pedagogy in Swedish and Danish interprofessional training units (ITUs) and to synthesize empirical findings from Swedish and Danish ITUs published in peer review journals. A questionnaire concerning organization and pedagogy was sent to twenty Swedish and Danish ITUs. After a bibliographic search aimed to find empirical studies from ITUs, twenty Swedish and eight Danish studies were included in the review. The questionnaires results showed that despite different wording, the overall aims for the ITUs were to provide students with the possibility of uniprofessional learning, interprofessional learning, and strengthening of professional identity. Furthermore, it appeared that there were different organizational and pedagogical approaches. The review revealed that differences in clinical tutors' affiliation and presence in the ITU were challenging. Also different pedagogical approaches were discussed. However, all articles showed that the goals for the ITUs in general were fulfilled. There is basis therefore to recommend the establishment of future clinical ITUs with the patient in the core and with the use of a student activating approach.

The purpose of this study was to compare which learning outcomes relating to an Interprofessional Training Unit (ITU) experience were found to be most important by students and by alumni. A cohort of 428 students in the ITU was asked to write three short statements describing the most important learning outcomes from the ITU. Alumni from the same cohort were after graduation asked the same question. Furthermore, they were asked to fill out a 12-item questionnaire. The statements concerning learning outcome were analysed qualitatively and categorized. The number of statements in each category was counted and tested for statistical difference between students and alumni. Students stated "uniprofessionalism" as the most important learning outcome followed by "interprofessionalism", "professional identity" and "learning environment". Alumni on the other hand stated "professional identity" as most important learning outcome followed with "interprofessionalism", "learning environment" and "uniprofessionalism". The study indicated that over time the perceived outcome of learning experiences from an ITU change in priority.

During the last decade, there has been a growing recognition that emotions can be of critical importance for students' learning and cognitive development. The aim of this study was to investigate the self-reported and the observed relationship of: activity-, outcome-, epistemic-, and social emotions' role in students' learning in a clinical interprofessional context. We conducted a focused ethnography study of medical and nursing students' clinical placement in an interprofessional orthopaedic outpatient clinic where the students performed consultations with patients, together. We used content analysis to analyse observational notes and interviews. Two themes were identified. First self-regulated learning with two sub-themes: unexpected incident and reflection. The second theme was cooperative learning with three sub-themes: equality, communication, and role distribution. Participants only reported activating emotions. Negative emotions often occurred when the students together experienced an incongruity between their cognitive capability and the type of task. However, because of the possibility for students to call for a supervisor, the negative activating emotions often, in connection with reflection on the incident, resulted in a positive emotion due to the students' awareness of having acquired new knowledge and capability, and thereby, learning. It is important to be aware of the close interplay between emotions and clinical learning in an interprofessional context. The learning environment must include easy access for supervision.