Educating Mental Health Nurse Practitioners on Interprofessional Collaboration and Preparing Them for Collaborative Practice

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been discussed for over 40 years, in nursing education as well as the majority of health professionals, education continues to primarily take place in silos with curricula that is discipline specific. Educators need to implement models of education that are linked to collaborative practice and team-based care.ObjectivesTo introduce the principles from the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioners Faculties Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies into the coursework. To demonstrate an application process for incorporating collaboration in their future nurse practitioner roles.MethodStudents in the Doctor of Nursing Practice mental health nurse practitioner program participated in a set of assignments to develop essential knowledge and skills for integration of IPC into practice. A pretest–posttest design was used to evaluate student attitudes towards IPC following immersion in IPC subject matter and experiential learning with other healthcare providers working together to coordinate patient care.ResultsThere were significant findings for six of the 18 survey questions. This project can serve as an example for successful implementation of IPE in the nursing curricula.