Professional Cross Over

Many university courses have mutli professional aspects to their teaching, where students from nursing are taught along side physiotherapists, paramedics and other members of allied health in some modules such as anatomy and biosciences.  This approach recognises that there are many similarities to the many professions that work in healthcare these days and aims to broaden a nurses understanding of these professions through this joint training.

Sometimes however individuals after a number of years practice in their profession may chose, or find it becomes necessary for health or financial reasons for them to retrain in an alternative profession.  Whilst the university training system recognises that nurses who train initially as adult branch should only undertake a small one year conversion course to accredit themselves as qualified children’s nurses, no system currently exists for recognition of other members of the multidisciplinary team should they wish to change profession.  There is currently recognition when undertaking medicine at university of previous learning, with graduate entry options that take into account previous medical experience, and while some universities may offer this in other professions it is by no means well publicised.

Whilst obviously moving between professions will not be as simple as changing between an adult and child qualified nurse, there is a significant amount of our professional activities that are interchangeable.  Patient assessment, a key area that a great deal of time at university is spent teaching to student nurses is no different than the patient assessment that is taught to paramedics and emergency care practitioners.  Likewise all anatomy and pathophysiology will be the same irrespective of the professional qualification that an individual may hold.

There would of course be important new skills to learn when crossing profession, a paramedic may be highly skilled at removing patients from an entrapped car and transporting them safely to hospital, but would need training in drugs rounds, patient management on a ward, and the management of other members of the professional team not found outside of the hospital setting.  Likewise a member of nursing staff, even those working in the emergency department, may be well versed in the emergency assessment of patients, but will require training to operate safely at a road side accident or industrial chemical spill.

Whilst it would be ideal that we could recognise that members of the multidisciplinary team with appropriate training could cross professions there is always a cost implication.  These courses would have to be run by university institutions that must always balance their books, and so therefore this is unlikely to be offered by every institution.  Those institutions that already teach a number of professions in the same lecture hall may be those best versed to offer a cross over course, however outside a few select people it remains to be seen if there would be significant demand to make it financially viable.