Becoming Professionals Together
The Northern Savo Centre of Expertise for the Interprofessional Social and Health Care Education
There is an increasing need for new ways to think about how and on what we are working in health and social care. Interprofessional work and studying interprofessionally have become more important. The Northern Savo Centre of Expertise for the Interprofessional Social and Health Care Education builds new interprofessional environments and models, which respond to the changing needs of social and health care. It creates possibilities for the inventive collaboration between universities, health and social care sector and business.
This project has been planned together with the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) and Savonia University of Applied Sciences (Savonia). There are thousands of students in the UEF and Savonia studying health and social care disciplines. Therefore, we in Northern Savo have a unique opportunity to provide interprofessional education with the real health and social care environment and strengthen the connection between work and education.
The project has four missions:
The preparation of the interprofessional training model
New interprofessional learning environment in the acute care ward of the Kuopio University Hospital
New interprofessional learning environment in primary health care
Education of the social and health care professionals to act as mentors in the interprofessional training
The project is carried out from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022. It is funded by the European social fund.
For more information, please contact project manager Henna Saari: henna.saari@uef.fi
The SOKK Competency Objectives
We have defined general competency objectives for The Northern Savo Centre of Expertise for the Interprofessional Social and Health Care Education, also known as SOKK. The competency objectives are common to all social and health care students who study according to the SOKK Teaching Model.
The SOKK Competency Objectives are:
- The student knows how to operate in their professional role and explain the roles of different social and health care professionals in interprofessional services.
- The student is able to explain why and how interprofessional cooperation is done in social and health services.
- The student recognizes the principles of ethical and customer- and patient-oriented operations in interprofessional teams, working groups and networks.
- The student can analyze how interprofessional work promotes customer and patient safety.
- The student can reflect on the interaction and work of an interprofessional team as well as their own work as a member of an interprofessional team.
The SOKK Teaching Model
The SOKK Teaching Model proceeds in three stages:
1. The studies begin in the digital learning environment:
- Orientation to study, the implementation methods and the competency objectives.
- Familiarization with the study material.
- Getting to know the members of the interprofessional student team.
2. SOKK’s interprofessional learning in practice takes place in different learning environments:
- Participation as part of practice education or training.
- Working as interprofessional student teams in client work, instructed by trained mentors and teachers.
3. Learning is assessed afterwards:
- Completion of joint assignments in interprofessional student teams.
- Gathering feedback and developing practices.
The SOKK Teaching Model.
The SOKK digital learning environment
The SOKK digital learning environment for social and health care students supports interprofessional collaboration. Before entering the interprofessional learning environments in social and health care, students group together with their interprofessional student team and study the learning material. The SOKK digital learning environment supports the collaborative skills of future professionals and prepares them to work as an interprofessional team in social and health care services. We are piloting the digital learning environment from September 2021.
The SOKK digital learning environment consists of the following materials:
Learning and studying in the SOKK course:
- Completion of the course, The SOKK Competency Objectives, The SOKK Pedagogical Model, The SOKK Teaching Model
- Reflection as part of learning
- Different SOKK learning environments in social and health care
- Grouping task for the interprofessional student team
Interprofessional collaboration skills:
- Interaction and collaboration skills
- Ethics in interprofessional work
- The assessment of interprofessional care and service needs
- Customer and patient orientation
- Customer and patient safety
Working as a professional in social and health care system:
- The key roles and tasks of the social and health care professionals involved in SOKK
- Shared customers in social and health care services
- The future social and health care center
- The legislation governing interprofessional processes
Assignments:
- Interprofessional care and service plans
- Individual reflection on one’s own and interprofessional student team’s actions and learning
- Tests on learning materials
The interprofessional learning environments in social and health care
We are creating new interprofessional learning environments in the acute care ward of the Kuopio University Hospital and in primary social and health care. SOKK’s interprofessional learning in practice -model will be piloted in November 2021. In the acute ward of the Kuopio University Hospital, they focus on treating acute illnesses in elderly patients and supporting home care. In primary social and health care the interprofessional learning environments are in Kuopio city social and health care, Päihdepalvelusäätiö (the substance abuse treatment foundation) in Kuopio, Rautavaara municipal social and health care and Ylä-Savon SOTE Joint Municipal Authority in Northern Savo. In primary social and health care the focus is to provide care and service to people who have multiple needs.
In the interprofessional learning environments social and health care students are jointly responsible for care and service. They form an interprofessional student team that is instructed by mentors and other social and health care professionals. They take responsibility for the holistic care of the customer together and break the boundaries of traditional professional roles. It is important that the interprofessional student team operates in a customer-oriented manner and finds the best solution together with the customer.
Interprofessional mentoring
We are training social and health care professionals to act as mentors/supervisors in multidisciplinary services. The training is created for the social and health care professionals who mentor students. The training module consists of three courses that focus on the pedagogy of interprofessional mentoring, useful digital tools and environments and multidisciplinary services and networks. The training is time- and place-independent, self-directed, and organized online. We are piloting the training from September 2021 with our collaboration organizations.
SOKK’s interprofessional learning in practice.
Results from the SOKK pilots
We piloted the SOKK Teaching Model in 2021. We launched the pilots of interprofessional theoretical studies for social and health care students and interprofessional mentor training for social and health care professionals online at DigiCampus Moodle in September. We piloted the interprofessional learning in practice -model in social and health care system in November. We gathered feedback from those who participated in the pilots. 29 students and 21 professionals responded to the survey. We present the preliminary results of the pilots and our views in the summary below.
The pilots were implemented in the acute ward of the Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio city social and health care, Päihdepalvelusäätiö (the substance abuse treatment foundation in Kuopio), Kysteri primary health care and Rautavaara municipal social services and Ylä-Savon SOTE Joint Municipal Authority in Northern Savo. We planned the content and implementation of interprofessional learning in practice -model together with the partner organizations of our project. Representatives from all levels of management and interprofessional mentors should be involved already in the planning. Commitment to the planning and implementation of the model is important. Lack of resources can make commitment difficult.
A total of 36 undergraduate students from medicine, nutrition science and social work from the University of Eastern Finland and physiotherapy, nursing and social services from Savonia University of Applied Sciences participated in the pilots. The students had the opportunity to study interprofessional theoretical studies and get to know each other in the digital learning environment before entering the interprofessional learning environments in social and health care. Interprofessional learning period in social and health care lasted 2–7 days, depending on the learning environment. The students stayed there 1–7 days. About 70 % of the students considered 1–3 days to be preferable, and about 30 % wanted to study longer. The students worked in interprofessional teams of 2 to 5 people, depending on the learning environment. The team size was considered ideal. No more than one student in the same field participated in the team at a time.
Interprofessional customer and patient work was implemented well. The students learned interprofessional skills and practices. Based on the pilots, the interprofessional assessment of care and service needs, the customer-oriented care and service plan and reflective conversations are excellent ways to learn interprofessional collaboration. The customer experience was positive, and customers would recommend the service to their peers.
The professionals working in social and heath care mentored interprofessional student teams during the pilots. The interprofessional mentoring worked well. The organizations participating in the pilots admitted one day for the interprofessional mentor training, which was considered useful.
Interprofessional collaboration, in all its complexity, is a powerful learning method that can evoke surprising feelings and reactions. It is important for the participants to respond well to sudden changes and emotional reactions, give time and space for the formation of new competencies and support each other. Over 80 % of students and 100 % of professionals would recommend this implementation to their peers. Based on the results of the survey the professionals were excited to develop interprofessional learning in practice -model further. Building common operating models in welfare area is considered important, and interprofessional collaboration is seen as a customer-oriented way of working in the future.
The SOKK Pedagogical Model
The concept of learning in SOKK is based on a Pedagogical Model combining the Integrative Pedagogy Model (Tynjälä 2007; Tynjälä 2018; Tynjälä, Virtanen, Klemola, Kostiainen & Rasku-Puttonen 2016) and the Complexity Theory (Cooper, Braye & Geyer 2004).
The Integrative Pedagogy Model combines the key elements of expertise in learning situations: theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge, self-regulatory knowledge and sociocultural knowledge (Tynjälä et al. 2016; Tynjälä 2018). The Integrative Pedagogy Model is based on the understanding that learning takes place at three levels of human activity: social, cognitive and emotional (Tynjälä 2018).
The Complexity Theory is based on Tosey’s (2002) outline of the four complexity theory principles: the self-organization of learning, the paradox of learning, the emergence of learning and learning on “the edge of chaos”.
References:
Cooper, H., S. Braye, & R. Geyer. 2004. ”Complexity and Interprofessional Education.” Learning in Health and Social Care 3:4, 179–189.
Tosey, P. 2002. Teaching on the Edge of Chaos. Complexity Theory and Teaching Systems. LTSN Imaginative Curriculum Knowledge Development Paper.
Tynjälä, P. 2007. ”Integratiivinen pedagogiikka osaamisen kehittämisessä.” In Taidon tieto, edited by H. Kotila, A. Mutanen, & M. V. Volanen. Helsinki: Edita, 11–36.
Tynjälä, P. 2018. Integratiivinen pedagogiikka asiantuntijuuden kehittymisen tukena (video).
Tynjälä, P., A. Virtanen, U. Klemola, E. Kostiainen, & H. Rasku-Puttonen. 2016. ”Developing Social Competence and Other Generic Skills in Teacher Education: Applying the Model of Integrative Pedagogy.” European Journal of Teacher Education 39:3, 368–387.
The SOKK Pedagogical Model.
Accessibility and Data Protection
Accessibility
Website accessibility
This accessibility statement pertains to the website available at www.sokk.fi, and it has been drawn up on September 23, 2020. The accessibility of the website has been assessed by our team members. In addition, we have reviewed the website by using the Wave service and followed the Papunet accessible website design guide.
Accessibility status of the digital service
The website meets the AA level accessibility requirements, which we have set as our goal. The accessibility requirements have guided the layout design of and content production for our website. We are committed to enhancing the accessibility of our digital services, and we are continuously working to improve it. For users to whom our digital services remain inaccessible, we offer special support. If this is the case, please contact us at anna.miettinen@uef.fi
Did you discover an accessibility issue in our digital service?
Please let us know, and we will do our best to fix the issue. You can give feedback relating to accessibility by sending an email to: anna.miettinen@uef.fi
If you discover an accessibility issue on our website, please give us, i.e. the website administrators, feedback first. Please note that it may take up to 14 days to reply to your feedback. If you are not satisfied with our response or if you receive no response at all within two weeks, you can lodge a complaint with the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland. The website of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland explains, in detail, how you can lodge a complaint and how the matter will be processed.
Contact information for the supervisory authority:
Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland
Accessibility oversight unit
www.saavutettavuusvaatimukset.fi
saavutettavuus@avi.fi
Telephone number 0295 016 000 (switchboard)
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