VA Bedford Collaborative Co-Teaching
BEDFORD, Massachusetts--VA Bedford Healthcare System encourages staff to participate in a novel initiative, Collaborative Co-Teaching, developed originally from a one-day course offered by Harvard Medical School.
The program pairs professionals from different healthcare disciplines to co-lead educational sessions, an idea sparked by Harvard's Nurse-Doctor Co-Teaching course. VA Bedford has expanded the concept to allow any two professions to teach together.
"We took inspiration from the innovative Harvard program and created our own Collaborative Co-Teaching model to promote partnership between all our staff," said Dr. Jim L. Meisel, VA Bedford Associate Chief of Staff for Education.
Benefits of the collaborative approach may include increased employee engagement, decreased disciplinary silos, and greater collaboration and education between healthcare professionals and other staff at VA Bedford. Ongoing co-teaching projects seek to improve patient outcomes in areas like safety, whole health, and integrative approaches. Any two or more interested staff are welcome to co-teach a session catered to their colleagues, residents, students, or other audiences. The program aims to increase interprofessional education and collaboration at VA Bedford.
VA Bedford staff interested in participating in the next Harvard course, offered this year on Friday Sept. 22, should contact Dr. Meisel. Harvard course facilitator Professor Helen Shields said, "I'm excited to support VA Bedford's teams in collaborative teaching techniques as they develop their own educational sessions." The virtual format allows teams from across facilities to participate or pilot their own co-teaching programs.
VA Bedford provides outstanding Veteran care, trains future health professionals, and conducts research across four Massachusetts locations. Staff can make a difference while advancing their careers.