The Use of Combined Educational Activity to Promote Integration of Various Professional Disciplines in Psychiatric Practice

Abstract

Background

Psychiatry is a multidisciplinary practice with professionals from diverse backgrounds and training contributing to holistic management plan. Despite, this long established model, and policy support to develop education consortia integral to service planing across, health and social care boundaries, there exists no regular model in modern day clinical practice to share knowledge, skills and expertise amongst different professional groups in a structured manner.

Introduction

In this context, we developed a Combined Educational Activity (CEA) programme amongst various disciplines. Professionals including Nurses, Doctors, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Pharmacists and Support Workers were invited to meet once a fortnight during an extended hand over session of one hour to openly share their knowledge and expertise on complex clinical cases and other relevant topics in the fashion of clinical senate.

Method

After three months a survey was undertaken – A Likert questionnaire was distributed amongst the attendees to collect feedback on the content, structure, utility and criticism of the programme. The results of the survey are outlined in detail.

Result

It was perceived that the Combined Educational Activity (CEA) was effective in sharing knowledge and expertise between professionals and also to reduce negative prejudices against various disciplines and appreciate better each member’s contributions to the overall clinical care. There was overall positive feedback about the programme and each member felt valued for their contribution in their clinical role. Further, it also helped We feel replicating and refining this model across teams would be beneficial in overall clinical care and staff morale in multidisciplinary practice.