An interprofessional initiative aimed at creating a common learning resource for the operating room ward

Every semester, the operating room (OR) ward receives students from different educational programmes. Although interprofessional knowledge is essential for OR teamwork, students have traditionally been prepared in an uniprofessional manner, with no focus on interprofessional learning outcomes. This report describes the work process of an interprofessional initiative undertaken to create a common learning resource aimed at preparing students for OR practice. With a focus on interprofessional learning, shared and profession-specific learning outcomes, which are needed to prepare for practice, were identified by an interprofessional faculty. To avoid timetabling and geographic barriers, learning outcomes and constructed learning activities were packaged into an e-module and delivered on-line as an adjunct to existing lectures and workshops. A survey was administered to 4th year medical (n = 42) and 1st year OR nurse students (n = 4) to evaluate their perceptions of the e-module. We found that most learning outcomes from the different syllabuses were common for all professions. The overall response rate of the survey was 59% (27 of 46 students). Eighteen of the 27 responding students had used the learning resource, of which 15 students considered it to be of ‘high’ or ‘very high’ value. In summary, this interprofessional initiative resulted in a new common learning resource for the OR, which was used and perceived valuable by a majority of the students. The learning outcomes needed to prepare students from different educational programmes for OR practice are, to a great extent, generic and interprofessional and we thus argue that the interprofessional nature of the faculty was essential for the success of the initiative.