TEAMCARE: Resources for interprofessional learning and integrated community care

TEAMCARE  was an Erasmus+ project which supported health and social care professionals to work together on community-based, person-centred care.

Project description

The project developed a European curriculum for Specialists in Community-Based Interprofessional Teams (CBIT), grounded in an Integrated Framework of Competences. The curriculum was adapted and delivered through four pilots in Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Poland.

These pilot experiences demonstrated how a shared European approach could accommodate different education systems, service structures, and professional learning needs. The resulting training package combines a curriculum, course-design tools, teaching guidance and reusable learning materials.

TEAMCARE connected interprofessional collaboration with digital health, shared decision-making and the coordination of integrated care. Its resources are there to provide support to education providers and service organisations in translating competences into learning activities relevant to everyday practice.

EHTEL’s role

EHTEL has supported TEAMCARE’s dissemination activities by promoting its final conference: it did so through the EHTEL website, events listings, and newsletter. It also highlighted TEAMCARE’s coverage of the importance of digitally confident health and care workforces. This connection reflects the project’s relevance to EHTEL’s work programme pillar on Change Management, including capacity-building with its focus on workforce skills.

What’s in it for EHTEL members

For EHTEL members who work on digital transformation and integrated care, TEAMCARE offers resources that connect digital capabilities with the organisational and interpersonal skills needed to use them. Topics include telemedicine, electronic health records, data protection, and the appraisal of digital technologies, as well as teamwork, communication, and care planning. This is the TEAMCARE package.

• Education and training providers can use this package to develop or update courses.
• Health and social care organisations can draw on its materials for staff development and collaborative learning.
• Members who are adopting digital health initiatives can exchange experience with the TEAMCARE pilot teams and explore adaptation of initiatives and techniques to their own institutional or regional contexts.

Useful materials

• EU Curriculum. The final TEAMCARE curriculum comprises almost 60 learning outcomes across six modules. They cover teamwork, communication and professional roles, person-centred care, digital health, integrated care coordination, and baseline competences. The curriculum provides a common reference for designing courses adapted to local needs.
• Designers’ Kit. Guidance and tools help education providers turn the curriculum into a course suited to their national or institutional context. The kit supports choices made between a Comprehensive and an Essential(s) versions, credit allocation, and course structure. It includes a web-based Course Design Tool.
• Lesson plans. Reusable teaching plans connect learning outcomes with activities, resources, and assessment. Examples address collaborative leadership, conflict management, closed-loop communication, multidimensional assessment, and quality of care. The lesson/teaching plans help educators organise learning through cases, discussion, simulation, and reflection.
• E-learning materials. Video lessons, interactive case studies, and downloadable guides address selected curriculum outcomes, such as digital technologies, task shifting, cultural sensitivity, and communication. Materials are available in Greek, English, Italian, and Polish under a CC BY-NC-SA licence. Language-specific courses can be accessed through a free platform account.
• Community of Inquiry platform. The platform brings together learning resources and spaces for professional exchange. Participants can interact with the community, discuss implementation experiences, and explore additional e-learning resources developed by other projects. The platform supports continued learning and collaboration across professional and organisational boundaries.
• Memorandum of Understanding. A voluntary, non-binding framework enables organisations to express support for TEAMCARE’s dissemination, adaptation, and use. Organisations can select contributions which are suited to their roles. Roles range from promoting resources to exploring curriculum implementation or institutional cooperation. The cited web-page includes the document and signing guidance.
• Twinning Partnerships. Prospective adopters can connect with the four pilot teams for practical knowledge exchange on curriculum adaptation, course delivery, assessment, and implementation planning. The cited web-page explains the whole process and provides contacts for organisations interested in exploring a partnership.

 

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.