Creating a Collaborative Care Curriculum Framework.

BACKGROUND

A faculty-wide approach to curriculum design is required to ensure students within all health professional courses are provided with relevant interprofessional education opportunities across their course of study. Within the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, Australia, a Collaborative Care Curriculum Framework was developed to detail the learning outcomes for collaborative care for pre-registration students.

METHODS

A six-stage process was undertaken. A working group was established, and existing literature, interprofessional frameworks and accreditation documents were analysed, and themes extracted. Consensus was obtained across the multiple professions (12 in our context) regarding the main themes and student learning outcomes. Multimedia was engaged to facilitate the communication of the framework across the faculty.

DISCUSSION

Keys to the successful development of the framework included reference to profession-specific accreditation requirements, incorporating patient and student perspectives, and working with multimedia to produce clear professional documents. The outcome of the six-stage structured process was the establishment of an agreed framework for use across professions when planning an interprofessional curriculum. Subsequent benefits of developing the framework include a shared language, vision and priorities for the development of new interprofessional curriculum activities. A Collaborative Care Curriculum Framework was developed to detail the learning outcomes for pre-registration students CONCLUSION: Each stage of the framework development is outlined to allow others to replicate the process in their local context. The process undertaken and the challenges encountered are described, in addition to the subsequent benefits for faculty members and students.