‘TeamUP’: An approach to developing teamwork skills in undergraduate midwifery students

Abstract

Objective: to develop an effective model to enable educators to teach, develop and assess the development of midwifery students’ teamwork skills

Design: an action research project involving participant interviews and academic feedback.

Setting: a regional university

Participants: midwifery students (n = 21) and new graduate midwives (n = 20)

Interventions: a whole of course program using a rubric, with five teamwork domains and behavioural descriptors, to provide a framework for teaching and assessment. Students self and peer assess. Lectures, tutorials and eight different groupwork assignments of increasing difficulty, spread over the three years of the undergraduate degree are incorporated into the TeamUP model.

Findings: the assignments provide students with the opportunity to practice and develop their teamwork skills in a safe, supported environment.

Key conclusions: the social, emotional and practical behaviours required for effective teamwork can be taught and developed in undergraduate health students.

Implications for practice: students require a clear overview of the TeamUP model at the beginning of the degree. They need to be informed of the skills and behaviours that the TeamUP model is designed to help develop and why they are important. The success of the model depends upon the educator's commitment to supporting students to learn teamwork skills.