By Peter D Glover | AHP Practice Education Co-ordinator | NHS Education for Scotland @PeteAHPed
“Inclusive…..patient-centred……and team-oriented”.
These words were chosen by an AHP physiotherapy student who completed a new integrated practice-based learning experience between Carers Direct Ltd, an independent sector organisation that provides care in peoples’ homes, and an NHS Highland Reablement Team in Oban.
A short description of the experience is given in the video clip below.
#AHPCare
Clips like this are being shared each day in November 2017, through coordinated Social Media activity on Facebook and Twitter being led by the Care Inspectorate, Scottish Care and NHS Education for Scotland. Our aim is to share the outcomes of successful cross-sector partnership working which helped to develop AHP Student practice-based learning experiences in the care sector. The partnership involved universities, care providers, NHS services and students, with support from the Care Inspectorate, Scottish Care and NHS Education for Scotland. We are using the hashtag #AHPCare.
The social media activity is themed over the month:
- Theme 1: Supporting policy into practice and future workforce development
- Theme 2: How to create new integrated experiences for the future workforce
- Theme 3: Sharing & Learning with UK and international partners
Each Wednesday in November will spotlight dietetic placement experiences in the Care Sector from Highland. And each Friday will encourage people to share or get involved with creating more learning experiences, not just for students, but staff too.
Practice-based Learning 
The NES funded AHP Practice Education Programme has five work streams. One of which is related to both governance arrangements and developing new AHP student practice-based learning experiences (placements). Practice-based learning is usually one-third of an AHP student’s pre-registration education. For the past 11 years, the programme has been working with a range of organisations and professions to change attitudes and increase student placement experiences within the third, independent and care sector.
The purpose of this work has been to prepare graduates for future employment and approaches to providing services; through developing their collaborative practice skills and the values that support person-centred care. These pilots have also enabled services to evolve through growing relationships between staff of the involved organisations and students working together. More information about all of this can be found in our community of practice.
Collaborative Practice
It is acknowledged internationally that collaborative practice and shared leadership skills are needed for an integrated workforce to provide future services through multi-disciplinary and multi-sector teams. Globally, there has been considerable funding in research and education for collaborative practice as health and social care systems face substantial challenges to meet growing demand for services. Investment in both the current and future workforce to work in more effective, safer and efficient ways through greater interdependence and broader sharing of generic skills, which meet population needs in a person centred way, is one approach to achieving a sustainable workforce. These developments require the health workforce to further embrace collaborative practice within and between professions and colleagues from other agencies.
The attributes of collaborative practice can be summarised as: coordination & communication, shared planning & decision-making; interdependence & cooperation; partnership, trust & respect among team members; shared power & leadership; and patient & family involvement (Bookey-Bassett et al, 2016).
The clip below shares students’ experience of collaboration with multidisciplinary team members and patients/ clients.
It has not just been the students that have been demonstrating shared leadership. These same attributes of collaborative practice have enabled the range of organisations and different roles to work together to plan, run and evaluate the students’ practice-based learning experiences. The new integrated AHP physiotherapy placement which these clips evaluate is an example of that, and they demonstrate that integration of services to create new opportunities is possible.
Hear from the students’ perspective how the placements were set up.
Each new placement in the Care Sector demonstrates policy into practice, through collaboration between people from different organisations and different layers within them.
So not only have the students undertaking practice-based learning in the Care Sector been developing their shared leadership skills; but also the experience that they were having was a consequence of shared leadership through collaboration between organisations.
Kim Wilde
So what does Kim Wilde have to do with this blog? Well, the NHS Lothian Delivering Leadership for Excellence (DLE) programme is completing its 10th Cohort this year; and I was fortunate enough to be on the 2nd cohort at a time in my life when I was needing new perspectives.
I will always remember that we covered the Fish! Philosophy, modeled after the Pike Place Fish Market, which has four central ideas, to enhance working environments:
- choosing one’s attitude,
- playing at work,
- making someone’s day, and
- being present.
Whilst this could be viewed as dated, we were repeatedly reminded on Twitter last month during World Mental Health Day the importance of connecting with our passions and making time to play as adults. So, I have just playfully connected two of my passions (practice-based learning & collaborative practice) with yet another great passion of mine which is the gardening sensation: Kim Wilde. She did once collaborate with Michael Jackson after all! I hope that you don’t mind indulging me just a little 🙂
Action: Please get involved this month with sharing your experiences or resources that support AHP student practice-based learning in the Care Sector, using hashtag #AHPCare
Resource: All resources that are being shared throughout November are available here on the AHP Practice Education Community of Practice
References:
Bookey-Bassett, S., Markle-Reid, M., McKey, C. & Akhtar-Danesh. 2016. A Review of Instruments to Measure Interprofessional Collaboration for Chronic Disease Management for Community-living Older Adults. Journal of Interprofessional Care. 30(2), pp.201-210.
AHPs across health and social care. 