1. A CALL FOR COLLABORATION BSN NURSING & SOCIAL WORK STUDENT’S PERCEPTIONS OF COLLABORATION DURING A SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE Kathryn Stefo MSN,RN, Karen Vrdolyak, Tanya Lopez Blon

2. What is the experience of Nursing and Social Work students who are involved in a collaborative Service Learning Community Health Fair Project ?

3. GAP IDENTIFIED Healthcare has changed in the last decade. Nursing and social work undergraduate education needs to prepare students for the current state of practice: Healthy People 2020 identifies access to health care as a major goal. Client access to health care services, from the nursing perspective, is often related to collaboration with social and public health service professionals. According to Quality Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies, interprofessional collaboration is a skill that health care (and other professionals) must develop in order for patients and communities to have improved access to healthcare and high quality health outcomes.

4. ADDRESSING THE GAP Senior BSN Nursing students in TCC Community Health Nursing course were involved in service learning with community partners. They did not have an opportunity to collaborate with other disciplines in their service learning educational efforts. The nursing department was able to obtain grant funding to pilot an interdisciplinary collaborative service learning research project. The purpose of the project was to study the experience of BSN nursing and social work students as they collaborated on community assessments, a service learning enactment, & classroom debriefing. (Tanya Blon Director of Youth Programs Restoration Ministries )

5. METHODOLOGY: COMBINED QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE METHODS 1. 48 BSN nursing and social work students were assigned parallel group Community Ward Assessments in Harvey, Il. using tools unique to each discipline. 2. Students from both disciplines collaborated in a service learning health fair experience with a Community Partner, Restoration Ministries in Harvey Illinois. 3. The students met after the service learning experience for combined small group discussions and debriefing of their experience. 4. Data was collected during the students assigned ward community assessments and during combined discussion activities. The student groups were asked to answer three questions.

6. DEBRIEFING AND THREE QUESTIONS At the end of the semester the 2 groups of students participated in a combined debriefing class. During this class time they discussed their ward assessments from the perspective of a nurse and social worker. The students were also asked to Write answers to the following questions. 1. How would you describe your experience during this semesters collaborative project? 2. What did you consider to be beneficial about collaborating during the community assessment and service learning project enactment? 3.What suggestions/changes would you make for future service learning collaborative projects?

7. PERSPECTIVES CHANGED (THINGS LIKED) Many students appreciated finding out what the collaborating department’s students do related to community service, as it gave them fuller perspective professionally. The nursing students reported they began to see the benefits of knowing the community. Social worker students reported they began to experience the benefit of understanding the individual.

8. STUDENTS QUOTES A social worker stated, “Understanding the health aspect was beneficial since they understood how the barriers in Harvey affect their health and wellness.” A nursing student said, “[Liked seeing] how social workers follow through with what the needs are in the community.” These quotes show perceived benefit, but there is potential for more than that. Now students from both departments may find ways to work together in the future, thanks to the knowledge they acquired during this collaborative service learning project.

9. THEMES IDENTIFIED Another theme is that the students’ understanding has been greatly expanded. One student stated that it “made us aware of issues in the community and things that matter to the neighborhood.” (Karen Vrdoyak Director of Development, Restoration Ministries Harvey Illinois )

10. Different Perspective15 Better Understanding10 Fresh Ideas9 New Connections7 Enhanced Communication2

11. BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION DISCUSSION This pie chart contains all 43 of the student’s main takeaways from this project. The biggest piece of data belongs to the different perspective category, where students mentioned that their conversations with the other department offered valuable insight into thoughts and actions that they may not have thought of. The better understanding section refers to the students getting better context related to the community. The fresh ideas section refers to how students found new ways to approach their work, thanks to collaborating with the other department. The new connections section deals with how the students created new friendships and working relationships that could enable collaborative interactions. The enhanced communication section speaks to how their communication skills increased, and they feel better equipped to practice professionally.

12. BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION This collection of data is slightly different than the pie chart, as it takes all responses given by the student, even if there is more than one to a student. Some students touched on multiple valuable topics, and I didn’t want to throw out their responses as long as they still had value. Therefore, the total responses for this chart are 53, 10 more than the students involved, and the data becomes a little more fleshed out. The data stays relatively the same pattern; however, it is even more obvious how the students valued gaining a new perspective. Almost a majority of the students referenced it, along with how this new perspective promoted growth in the other four categories. In that way, these are related.

13. THE CALL FOR COLLABORATION

14. CALL FOR COLLABORATION DISCUSSION Of the 43 student responses, 35 mentioned increased collaboration would be extremely useful. 23 of the 35 who mentioned increased collaboration specifically mentioned that it would be even more beneficial to have earlier collaboration in the semester. That is 66% of the students who mentioned collaboration, leaving 34% of the Increased Collaborations total to the “not specified” category. The responses in this category were the ones that called for collaboration on things like projects or presentations, but not specifically earlier. This data tells us that a vast majority of the students want more times to collaborate throughout the semester, and a majority of those students want that collaboration early.

15. CHANGES SUGGESTED BY STUDENTS FOR FUTURE COLLABORATIONS There was a strong call for more social work and nursing student interaction. 81% (35 of the 43) of students mentioned that there should be increased collaboration. Students reported that their final reflective papers did not represent the collaborative disciplines roles as they were too similar. The nursing students reported they could have benefited from meeting & working with the social workers earlier in the semester. The nursing students wanted more details about Harvey’s history, and how it came to be where it is now. They thought that it would be very beneficial to their work.

16. INCREASED COLLABORATION INVOLVEMENT SUGGESTIONS INCLUDED : more meetings joint projects where each department focused on something different then came together team presentations and simply more time with each other. They thought the time was too beneficial to not do more often.

17. References 1.Cutler, D., Lleras-Muney, A. (June 2011). Education and health: Evaluating theories and evidence. National Bureau of Economic Research, www.nber.org/w12352 Kelly, P. (2005). Practical suggestions for community interventions using participatory action research. Public Health Nursing, 22(1), 65-73 9p. 2.Ridley, R.T. (2007). Interactive teaching: A concept analysis. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(5), 203-9. 3.Running, A., Martin, K., & Tolle, L. (2007). An innovative model for conducting a participatory community health assessment. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 24(4), 203-213 11p. 4.Sullivan, D.T., Hirst, D., Cronenwett, T. (2009). Assessing quality & safety competencies of graduating prelicensure nursing students. Nursing Outlook, 57, p. 323-331. 5.Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2012). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community (8th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby/Elsevier. 6.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2016). Healthy People 2020. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives

18. References 6.Curran, V. R., Sharpe, D., Flynn, K., Button, P. (2010). A longitudinal study of the effect of an interprofessional education curriculum on student satisfaction and attitudes towards interprofessional teamwork and education. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 24(1), 41-52. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/13561820903011927 Questions?