Joint training of doctors with specialists from other healthcare professions

After more than ten years of successful cooperation, the University of Health in Bochum and Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) have terminated their cooperation agreement, which anchors a better understanding of the interaction between different disciplines in the healthcare professions during the degree programme. "It has been shown that interdisciplinary teams in the health care sector are an enrichment for patients because the health situation can be analysed from different perspectives, thus ensuring holistic care. This is why the cooperation with the University of Health in Bochum is a real enrichment for our students," said Prof Dr Martin Butzlaff, President, explaining the benefits for the UW/H. His counterpart at the University of Health, Prof. Dr Christian Timmreck, added: "In the joint study sections, students learn to work on an equal footing with specialists from neighbouring disciplines. To do this, they need to be aware of the respective attitudes, thinking, communication and areas of responsibility of colleagues from other healthcare disciplines."

Further strengthening long-standing cooperation

In the area of interprofessional education (IPE), the university has been cooperating with the UW/H for many years. For example, there are joint events in which students from the primary qualification degree programmes in occupational therapy, midwifery, speech therapy, nursing and physiotherapy at the University of Applied Sciences for Health participate together with medical students from UW/H. These seminar days are firmly integrated into the curriculum and take place alternately in Bochum or Witten.

The next date for a joint event is 21 May 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, work will be carried out online, partly in large groups and partly in small groups. On this day, for example, the focus will be on the topic of stroke, taking into account the challenges of an intercultural context. "For far too long, prospective healthcare professionals have been trained in their silos, which is also one reason why we hardly have any cross-sectoral care concepts in practice. With this co-operation, we have now established something that seems self-evident, but is an innovation in Germany. Trainee doctors, nurses, midwives and therapists are learning from, with and about each other," emphasised Prof. Dr André Posenau, who heads the interprofessional project at the University of Health Sciences.

The then newly founded University of Applied Sciences for Health and Witten/Herdecke University have been working together for more than ten years. The cooperation agreement signed in 2016 has now been terminated. The agreement regulates the exchange of teaching staff, the organisation of joint student conferences, the development and implementation of a summer school programme and lecture series in the field of continuing education.