New CNR-ITD study on hospital school: the perspective of the health professionals

The CNR-ITD research team investigating Hospital Schools and Home Education in Italy has published a paper titled “The Hospital School from the Health Professionals’ Perspective: Roles and Collaboration” in the journal Continuity in Education (link). The article examines the perceptions that Italian healthcare professionals have of hospital school, focusing in particular on two aspects: the role teachers play within the care continuum; and the implications for interprofessional relations in the hospital setting. The paper reports the qualitative study that the research team conducted, featuring analysis of the views that healthcare professionals expressed in a focus group.

 

The results show that relationships between hospital teachers and healthcare staff in Italy often depend on individual initiative rather than structured organisational practices. Study participants stressed the need to adopt solutions suitable for optimising hospital schooling. One of these is tighter integration within hospital settings, achievable via structured opportunities for professional exchange and mutual learning. Another is the introduction of coordinators to facilitate links between the parties involved. Responses from the healthcare professionals in the study are indicative of challenges faced generally in interprofessional collaboration. That said, the finding also suggest that healthcare teams could adopt specific strategies to improve cooperation between healthcare professionals and hospital teachers.