Collaborative Practice Centre takes teamwork to a new level in health
The Collaborative Practice Centre at the University of Melbourne is transforming healthcare education by training students from 14 different health professions to work collaboratively as interprofessional teams, aiming to improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare fragmentation, and enhance practitioner satisfaction.
As Medicare turns 40, Australia’s complex healthcare system needs a workforce that’s equipped to face the challenges of the 21st Century.
A new Centre at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences is encouraging different health practitioners to work more closely together, leading to better outcomes for patients, more efficiencies for hospitals, and more satisfaction for health practitioners.
The Collaborative Practice Centre is re-engineering how students from the University of Melbourne’s 14 different health professions are trained so they think about health care as a team-based sport.
“We are going to teach people from day one to work as an interprofessional team for the benefit of the patient. So, if you're training to become a doctor you will be training from year one with nursing students, social work students, physiotherapy students, biomedical science students to produce better health care outcomes,” says Professor Elizabeth Molloy, Deputy Dean – Education, at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.
University of Melbourne, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Deputy Dean – Education, Elizabeth Molloy.
Professor Molloy says the new centre is designed to address the health system’s underlying fragmentation.
“Our health system is broken. It’s under an enormous amount of stress and we have parts of the health sector that are not speaking to each other and working together for the patient. That can include primary care right through to hospitals. We know this from research, yet we persist with training our professions in silos,” she says.
Professor Molloy says a desire to work better together is also coming from the different health professions. “Increasingly a lot of accrediting bodies are receptive to this idea: they want us to teach students how to work together as teams.”
Traditionally, most specialisations within health have stuck to themselves. The Centre aims to break down those barriers. “Healthcare is very hierarchical. People make assumptions about others’ capabilities. That can create friction and burnout. We know different professions are leaving in droves because of that lack of respect and that lack of cohesion,” says Professor Molloy.
Director of the CPC, Professor Tina Brock, says that the Centre is responding to the increased burden of chronic disease on the healthcare system. “A person living with diabetes is going to have to see multiple specialists, from optometrists to podiatrists, for their care. It can be confusing and difficult for patients to navigate this. We want to make that easier by ensuring that our brilliant healthcare professionals have the skills to work seamlessly together and to anticipate patient needs beyond their specialisation.”
University of Melbourne, Collaborative Practice Centre Director, Professor Tina Brock, at the Centre’s Inaugural Symposium: 'Applying Design Thinking to Teamwork: Spaces, People and Talk’.
“We actually have complementary competencies and our accreditors recognise this. People want to work to the top of their tickets. We're hoping by training our different professions together that people from day one year one will start to have a healthy respect and even admiration for the knowledge different professions hold,” says Professor Molloy.
As part of the Centre’s work, first year students will be part of simulations in the emergency context and mental health context. Over 1400 students across the 14 professions come together for “Ways of Knowing in Health Care” learning about cultural safety, Indigenous knowledges, and inclusive, equitable healthcare.
First year Doctor of Medicine student, Jonathan Glenning, has participated in these interprofessional programs and reflects on the importance of learning about, from and with, students from other disciplines.
“It’s extremely important for us as medical students to learn alongside students from other fields and professions. We’re going to be working together once we’ve all graduated – so why wait to build that multidisciplinary mindset and capacity? Focusing on this now while we’re still in training gives us a massive head start. When we join the workforce and begin caring for patients, we’ll be able to provide far greater, multidisciplinary care right from the beginning,” he says.
First year Doctor of Medicine student, Jonathan Glenning.
“A big part is showing students what good teamwork looks, sounds and feels like. It's about different people in a team understanding their roles and finding new ways of working. It's about respect and curiosity to examine practice, and having the courage to think about new ways of working,” says Professor Molloy.
Aside from the advantages teamwork delivers, a more collaborative approach will also have practical benefits. For instance, it may help ensure referrals are made to the right people.
The thinking behind the Centre has been backed by research into what good team work looks like in health. The university is keen to share lessons learned with the global academic and health services community. “We're working with government, with regulators, our clinical partners in hospitals and in primary care, upskilling health professionals around how to think and practice differently,” says Professor Molloy.
Over time, Professor Molloy expects to be able to improve the patient experience and clinician satisfaction and attrition rates. “If we continue to work in this siloed, fragmented way, there will continue to be massive wastage in our healthcare system. Our centre aims to address that,” says Professor Molloy.
To learn more about the Collaborative Practice Centre visit: Collaborative Practice Centre (unimelb.edu.au)
More information about the Centre was recently featured in The Age newspaper: New centre heralds different practitioner approach to maximise patient outcomes (theage.com.au)
Learn more about our postgraduate health education: Study Health (unimelb.edu.au)