Abstract:

Background:
Teamwork is essential for the Primary Care Team to be able to carry out the tasks required of them. A Community Nursing professional is a key member of this team. A Nursing Degree must provide students with the opportunity to develop teamworking skills. In order to do this it is of the utmost importance to plan learning strategies for the development of these skills.

Aim:
The aim of this study is to analyse the student evaluations of teamwork and to encourage reflection on the need for group work on the Community Nursing section of the Nursing Degree.

Method:
In order to carry out this study, a practical workshop about Community Nursing was carried out. Working in groups of five, students had to design a programme about Health Promotion and Health Education. After the workshop, students filled in an online questionnaire, which was both optional and anonymous. A total of 100 questionnaires were collected, yielding a response rate of 45%.

Results:
An analysis of the data showed an overall positive evaluation of teamwork. The majority (85%) of students responded positively with regards to working in a group. However, they did point out that occasionally, not all team members put in equal amounts of work. The students noted that the bonds between team members strengthened, the longer the amount of time spent on the task. This demonstrates that this methodology can facilitate communication and consensus between students, both being basic skills in professional nursing. Moreover, 89% of students considered the work to be useful for both themselves and for their teammates.

Conclusions:
The results demonstrate that this kind of questionnaire, which is easy to use, provides useful information about teamwork that can be analysed in order to improve teaching strategies as well as enable student reflection and motivation.
Student participation is essential in these tasks for optimal learning, training and skill development, in accordance with their future professional duties.

References:
1. Conselleria de Sanidad. (2007) DECRETO 74 /2007, de 18 de mayo, del Consell, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento sobre estructura, organización y funcionamiento de la atención sanitaria en la Comunitat Valenciana. [2007/6632]
2. De Miguel M. (Dir.) (2005). Modalidades de enseñanza centradas en el desarrollo de competencias. Orientaciones para promover el cambio metodológico en el EEES. Madrid: MEC/Universidad de Oviedo
3. Ibarra MS, Rodriguez G. (2007). El trabajo colaborativo en las aulas universitarias: reflexiones desde la autoevaluación. Revista de Educación, 344, 355-375.
4. Ruano L, Ballestar ML. (2011). Desarrollo de competencias transversales en Enfermería Comunitaria a través de la evaluación entre iguales. Congreso UNIVEST. 25-28 Junio. Gerona (España).

Keywords:

Cooperative work, community nursing, innovative teaching.