Learning in lockdown: exploring the impact of COVID-19 on interprofessional education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the learning experiences of students undertaking health and social care programmes across the globe. In the UK, the Nursing and Midwifery Council introduced emergency standards for undergraduate programmes in 2020, making significant short-term changes to programme delivery. However, the mandate for all students to undertake interprofessional education remained. Interprofessional education is key to preparing students on health and social care programmes, as it enables students to work as effective members of multi-agency/multi-professional teams on qualification. It is an important element of training, as it has a direct impact on quality of care and service user experience. This series of articles will explore the experiences of ‘lockdown learning’ from the perspective of academics, students and service users from a global perspective in relation to the delivery of interprofessional education during the pandemic, which necessitated a wholesale move from face-to-face, blended and online learning to include emergency remote teaching. The series was written by members of the Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education Research Subgroup (Interprofessional Education Experiences) and aims to identify barriers and facilitators to successful shared learning and provide suggestions for how lessons learned can be taken forward to further enhance this important element of pre-registration education. The perceptions and attitudes of academics and students on such comprehensive changes are a unique and rich data source to explore and inform future provision.

Emergency remote teaching for interprofessional education during COVID-19: student experiences

“…Recently, the impact of COVID-19 has led many educational providers to adapt to an online delivery mode. Article one in this series (Power et al, 2021) explores definitions of online learning and ERT, identifies the different ways that technology can enhance interprofessional learning, and discusses the impact of COVID-19 on midwifery pre-registration education including IPE. This paper extends upon this discussion by focusing on student experiences.…”

“…Online learning can overcome some of the logistical difficulties of IPE, such as bringing together learners from different institutions, regions, and professional programmes (Skorga, 2002;Juntunen & Heikkinen, 2004). An online format enables the creation of accessible, organised and structured learning environments that learners can access at a convenient time and location, as evidenced by Wetzlmair et al (2021). Therefore, online learning has great potential to solve many logistical problems relating to implementing and delivering IPE.…”

“…For example, constructivist approaches build upon existing knowledge of students and can be used to create opportunities for online collaboration through developing virtual interprofessional communities of practice (Johnson, 2001). As illustrated in case study 3, a practical application of this might include engagement with asynchronous interprofessional discussion boards or adopting a process of defining an IPE problem, encouraging effective online participation of all students through online facilitation which scaffolds and builds upon the existing knowledge and resources of the virtual community, encouraging collaborative online working, and negotiating next steps within the online community of practice (Johnson, 2001, Wetzlmair et al, 2021. Integral to achieving an effective online community of practice is creating a psychologically safe online educational environment, which recognises the importance of mutual trust, participation and continued engagement with peers (Hayward et al, 2021).…”

Practice-based learning and the impacts of COVID-19: doing it for real?

“…As identified in the first article in this series (Power et al 2021), opportunities for interprofessional education, where different professions can learn with, from and about each other, are key to fostering collaborative practice and improving the quality of care (Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) 2002). The possibilities of incorporating interprofessional practice-based learning (Anderson and Lennox 2009;Anderson et al 2016;Brewer andBarr 2016 Barr et al 2017) adds a further dimension where curricular, logistical and resource implications influence how much of an individual student's learning experience is facilitated in intradisciplinary, profession-specific rather than interdisciplinary, interprofessional groups (Thistlethwaite 2013;Langlois et al 2020;Yamashita et al 2021).…”

The impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of interprofessional education: it's not all bad news

“…As outlined in Power et al (2021) interprofessional collaborative practice is essential for providing high-quality, effective health care. Globally, universities have introduced interprofessional education (IPE) for students to learn with from and about each other to improve the quality of care (CAIPE, 2002;World Health Organization, 2010).…”