Professional development for radiographers and post graduate nurses in radiological interventions: Building teamwork and collaboration through drama

Introduction: The rapid development within Interventional Radiology presents new challenges. Hybrid operating rooms consist of interventional radiology, open surgery, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and other techniques. This means that several disciplines and professionals need to work in new constellations creating a multidisciplinary team around the patient. In accordance with this development, higher professional education must provide new pedagogic strategies to successfully address the knowledge expected in today's complex working life. Aim: To explore the use of Applied Drama as a learning medium, focusing on the use of Forum Theatre, to foster team work and collaboration in the field of radiography and learning. Methods: A qualitative approach, closely related to Ethnography, was utilized. Result: The Drama Workshop utilising Forum Theatre created a dynamic learning environment and enabled the participants from three professions to understand each other's priorities better. The use of drama within health care education allows the students to take different roles in order to find the best way to co-operate. Conclusion: Forum Theatre is a useful learning medium in order to promote teamwork and collaboration in the radiological intervention field. By choosing a personal working experience, Forum Theatre seem to engage the participants at a deeper level and to experience various communication strategies and how the outcome changed depending on the approach. This can lead to improved teamwork and collaboration. - Highlights: The pedagogical implications that one can find as a result of this study are the following: • Drama can be used as a dynamic learning medium in the field of radiography. • To create engagement in the learning process it is important to use the participants own experienced stories. • Negative attitudes and misunderstanding in the team are contradictory for teamwork and collaboration. • Unresolved conflicts and ethical dilemmas can result in unsafe care in health care settings.