The complexity of modern interdisciplinary health care practices, where different specialties work together to solve complex problems, challenges traditional approaches to organizational development and quality improvement. An example of this is surgery. This article describes and evaluates an action-oriented method to facilitate organizational development and innovation at an operating unit, centered on interprofessional aspects of health care, a method that shares some features with action learning. At its core the method had a group with members from all specialties in an operating team, who participated in regular meetings facilitated by a process leader, according to experiential learning principles. The group was evaluated using mixed methods (including interaction process analysis (IPA)), of which video recorded group meetings and interviews constituted the main sources of data. Results showed that the group achieved a successful organizational change. Indications of the success of the group process were the low level of conflicts and the high level of task focus. Interprofessional boundaries appeared to be bridged as all members participated in formulation of both problems and solutions while not being afraid to voice different opinions. Problems could be attributed to lack of awareness of the group at the operating unit at which the intervention took place.
The Effect of Action Learning Approaches on Problem-solving Skills and Self Directed Learning Skills of Nursing Undergraduate Students