Healthcare professionals' experiences of required competencies in mentoring of interprofessional students in clinical practice: A systematic review of qualitative studies.

AIM: To synthesize evidence on healthcare professionals' experiences of competencies in mentoring undergraduate healthcare, social care and medical students during their interprofessional clinical practice. DESIGN: This review was conducted by the JBI methodology for systematic reviews of qualitative evidence. METHODS: Studies were included if they were based on the phenomenon of interest and used qualitative or mixed methods (qualitative share). The included studies were critically appraised using the standardized JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist. Qualitative research findings were extracted and synthesized using the meta-aggregation approach. DATA SOURCES: Five databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Medic and ProQuest) were systematically searched from each database's inception on 28 June 2023. RESULTS: A total of 5164 studies were initially screened, and 25 were identified for inclusion in this review. Three synthesized findings were identified: competencies related to (1) preparing for and developing interprofessional clinical practice, (2) supporting the learning process in interprofessional clinical practice and (3) creating an interprofessional mentor identity. CONCLUSION: Although competent mentors are essential to implementing and developing interprofessional clinical practice, some mentors find interprofessional mentoring challenging. High-quality interprofessional mentoring requires specific competence that differs from profession-specific and individual mentoring. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: To ensure that interprofessional clinical practice is of high quality and strengthens students' professional and interprofessional growth, special attention should be given to mentors' interprofessional mentoring competence, and a range of opportunities and organizational structures should be provided for competence development. IMPACT: This systematic review provides insights into the specific competencies required for interprofessional mentoring. These findings can support healthcare professionals, educators and policymakers in developing interprofessional clinical practice and mentoring competence. REPORTING METHOD: This review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement and ENTREQ reporting guidelines. No patient or public contribution.

Comparison of attitudes, awareness, and perceptions regarding oral healthcare between dental and nursing students before and after oral healthcare education.

BACKGROUND: Oral healthcare education for health professional students is important to promote collaborative oral healthcare practice among health professionals. The purpose of this follow-up, cross-sectional study was to investigate attitudes, awareness, and perceptions regarding oral healthcare among dental and nursing students and to compare them both between baseline and the completion of the education programme and between dental and nursing students to identify problems with oral healthcare programmes in dental education. METHOD: The subjects included 88 dental and 119 nursing students. The dental students participated in geriatric and preventive dentistry courses for oral healthcare education. The nursing students participated in independent oral healthcare courses comprising 45 h of training with case-based learning and were taught and instructed by multiple health professionals, including dentists. Questionnaires were distributed to the participants to compare attitudes, awareness, and perceptions regarding oral healthcare between baseline and the completion of the education programme and between dental and nursing students. A chi-square test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare the data. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: The data of 48 (28 male and 20 female) dental students and 103 (9 male and 94 female) nursing students who completed the questionnaires both at baseline and after the education programme were used for the comparisons. After the education programme, more than 90% of the students were interested in oral healthcare practice; hoped to practise oral healthcare post-qualification; and perceived oral healthcare to be effective for preventing dental caries, periodontal diseases, and aspiration pneumonia. These attitudes and perceptions were statistically significantly improved after the education. However, the level of awareness of oral healthcare and the level of perception of the importance of collaboration with healthcare workers in oral healthcare practice after education were lower in the dental students than in the nursing students. Multi-professional oral healthcare education with case-based learning has the potential to improve awareness of oral healthcare and perceptions of the importance of collaborative oral healthcare practice.

Improving competence and safety in pain medicine: a practical clinical teaching strategy for students combining simulation and bedside teaching.

BACKGROUND: Pain is a devastating sensation and has to be treated immediately. Therefore, we developed a training program to improve the knowledge of medical students in the field of pain medicine. In the present study, the applicability and efficacy of this training program was tested. METHODS: Half of the students attended first a training with simulated patients (SP) followed by bedside teaching (Group 1). Group 2 performed the training programs in reverse order. The evaluation based on standardized questionnaires completed by students (self-assessment) and all students took part in two practical examinations after the learning interventions. RESULTS: This study included 35 students. The quality of the simulation was evaluated by the students with average grade 1.1 (1 = very good, 6 = very bad). The practical work on the ward with patients was rated with grade 1.4 of 6, the whole course with 1.1. Students of Group A were significantly better in the final examination (grade 1.7 vs. grade 2.2, p < 0.05). To rate the improvement of skills (self-assessment) we used a Likert Scale (1 = very certain, 5 = very uncertain). The following skills were similar in both groups and significantly better after the course: taking responsibility, expert knowledge, empathy, relationship building and communication. CONCLUSIONS: Training with simulated patients in combination with small-group teaching at the bedside with real patients achieves a dramatic increase in student competence. Students prefer learning from the simulation before bedside teaching and propose to include simulation into the curricular teaching of pain medicine.

Evaluación de un programa educativo en diabetes para el nivel primario en salud / Assessment of an educational program in diabetes for the primary care level

Objetivo: Desarrollar y evaluar un programa educativo multi-profesional en diabetes para equipos del primer nivel de atención en salud, EBAIS, basado en las condiciones locales. Metodología: Se impartió un curso activo-participativo de 35 horas, 70 por ciento práctica, 30 por ciento teoría, en tres zonas geográficas de Costa Rica, utilizando una metodología. Los contenidos educativos partieron de las necesidades sentidas por personal y pacientes, estudio previo, y de las guías de atención para este nivel. Se evaluó por medio del cambio en conocimiento teórico práctico. Resultados: Participaron 177 personas, 31 por ciento técnicos, 26.6 por ciento médicos y 22.6 por ciento asistentes de enfermería, quienes en la evaluación práctica, destrezas, obtuvieron una nota excelente a excepción de los participantes de la zona urbana del valle central. En la evaluación teórica, conocimientos, el puntaje global final se incrementó significativamente en todas las ocupaciones y zonas geográficas. Por disciplina el conocimiento en cada área temática se incrementó. Las comparaciones múltiples, ANOVA, del cambio de conocimientos mostraron algunas diferencias entre disciplinas y temas. Conclusión: Este curso basado en la metodología multiprofesional fue apropiado para mejorar el conocimiento y las habilidades de profesionales, técnicos y personal admistrativo, en diabetes, del nivel primario y la organización de la evaluación en áreas temáticas, permitió conocer la situación de aprendizaje entre las diferentes disciplinas.

Aim: To develop and evaluate a multi-professional educational program on diabetes mellitus, based on local conditions for the primary level of health attention (EBAIS). Methodology: An active–participative course of 35 hours (70% practice, 30% theory) was developed in three Costa Rican geographical areas. Topics were taken from the felt needs of the health providers and patients (previous study), also from the duties specified for the primary level. Evaluation was based on the increase of both theory (knowledge) and practice (skills).Results: Participants were 177 health workers from 44 EBAIS (31% ATAP, 26, 6% physicians and, 22,6% nurse assistants).The assessment showed that participants obtained excellent grades in the practical area, although the score of the urban zone of the Central Valley, was inferior. In the written test (knowledge), the final general score increased significantly in all disciplines and geographic areas. By discipline, knowledge increased in almost all themes. The multiple comparison test (ANOVA) showed some differences in the knowledge change in several themes and disciplines. Conclusions: This course based on a the multiprofessional methodology was appropriate to increase both knowledge and skill of professionals, technicians and administrative health workers from the primary level of health attention. The test organization by thematic areas, allowed the evaluation of every theme among the different disciplines. Diabetes education using this methodology on the site of work improved the primary health attention teams.