Family members’ experience of involvement in the patient care process on an interprofessional training ward: A qualitative interview study

Involving family members in the care process leads to higher-quality patient care. However, this requires collaboration among various healthcare professionals. At interprofessional training wards, healthcare students learn to work together across different disciplines. However, there is limited knowledge about family member´s involvement in the patient care process during interprofessional education in clinical settings. This study aimed to explore family members’ experience of involvement in the patient care process on an interprofessional training ward. An inductive content analysis was applied on data from individual interviews with 19 family members of patients admitted to an interprofessional training ward. Family members experienced that they had to be involved in the patient care process to bridge knowledge between the patient and the interprofessional student team in order to influence healthcare and have control over the situation. Moreover, they wanted to be acknowledged as family members and needed transparency in the patient care process. Family members’ involvement was governed by the patient’s needs and influenced by the degree of trust in the interprofessional student team. Interprofessional education activities should focus more on family members’ involvement in the interprofessional training ward. • Family members wanted to bridge knowledge between the patient and the student team • Family members wanted to be involved to enhance communication • To be acknowledged in the patient care process was deemed important • Family members should be considered as resources contributing to patient care • Interprofessional education should focus more on family members’ involvement