Abstract:

Background:
Due to the aging population, there is an increasing number of people who need healthcare services and at the same time, social and care services to better cope. Healthcare and care workers must deal with more long-term and chronic illnesses among patients. Meanwhile, the elderly require greater support from social workers to cope effectively.

In order to assist patients/clients in a timely and needs-oriented manner, it is necessary to identify and intervene in the problem early on. Collaboration between professionals from different fields has shown effectiveness in improving the well-being of clients. As the problems of clients and patients become more challenging and multifaceted, addressing and, if necessary, alleviating them requires simultaneous collaboration, diversification of services, and networking among different professionals.

For healthcare and social sector workers, the common goal is to help individuals cope as well as possible and to improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, this is often a significant challenge because workers in different fields operate separately, and their mutual information exchange is often inadequate. Each profession often focuses only on its professional skills, with less attention given to sharing information and collaboration. The reason for this is cited as a lack of information about other professions. To address this, the opportunity to teach both professions together has been utilized so that they have sufficient knowledge about each other.

Stronger collaboration between nursing and social work would provide the opportunity to receive comprehensive and cohesive assistance and care when the need arises. This requires the establishment of support networks and guiding patients/clients in obtaining the necessary services and assistance.

Interpersonal and interdisciplinary collaboration is a great support and even the foundation for achieving successful outcomes in nursing and the social sector's work. Interprofessional training in the field of nursing supports both professional development and patient well-being, thus strengthening interprofessional collaboration.

Nursing care is based on a nursing model that guides the implementation of a nursing care plan. In 2023, joint teaching with the care worker curriculum was initiated at Tallinn Health Care College. To achieve this, training in nursing diagnoses based on NANDA-I taxonomy (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association International) was first conducted for care worker teachers. Subsequently, joint practical exercises were held in the simulation center for second-year nursing students and second-year caregiver students.

Results:
Through joint learning, the knowledge and practical skills of both professions improved. Care worker students could read nursing diagnoses, understand patient needs, and support nursing care plan activities. Nursing students defined nursing diagnoses based on patient needs and included caregiver students in the creation and evaluation of the nursing care plan. Nursing students supplemented caregiver students' patient care skills through joint learning.

The joint learning took place before clinical practice. After the practice, the effectiveness of the joint learning experience will be assessed once again.

Keywords:

Nurse, care worker, collaboration.