Knowledge Transfer between University and Practice

Having recently completed tertiary education, people working in the health and social professions in particular are sometimes faced with a discrepancy between what they have just learned and what they need in practice.

This was the starting point of the project INPRO: together with university and practice partners from the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland, the St. Pölten UAS is working on how the treatment of patients can be improved in practice through interprofessional and person-centred communication.

Series of Modules in the Making

In order to facilitate the transition of young professionals from university training to practice, rehabilitation centres and higher education institutions are going to collaborate closely over the next three years at the regional and Europe-wide levels.

The objective is to develop a series of modules together – from the basics to advanced competencies – based on interprofessional and person-centred collaboration. The WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) serves as the connecting thought pattern for the project.

Approaches Tested in Real-Life Settings

A particular focus is on the exchange of experience between practitioners, lecturers, students and clients. Through regional projects in training as well as in rehabilitation centres, practice-oriented approaches are tried and tested in terms of their effectiveness and Europe-wide applicability.

The project INPRO aims to develop a teaching concept to bridge the gap to the practical realm as well as guidelines for the establishment and operation of a student-led interprofessional learning ward in a rehabilitation centre. Another goal of the project is to create (assessment) instruments for the development of interprofessional skills.

“In the INPRO project, we ask future clients and employers about the collaborative competencies that they expect from our UAS graduates. Based on this, we develop teaching concepts and module series together with our cooperation partners”, explains UAS lecturer Anita Kidritsch who coordinates the project at the St. Pölten UAS.

“The partners share more than 40 years of experience through the project”, adds Viktoria Magenschab from project partner Moorheilbad Harbach.

All results are to be published after the end of the project and made available for use in tertiary education and practice in the healthcare sector.

Partnership between Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Austria

For the project, the St. Pölten UAS teams up with partner universities HANZE Groningen (NL), Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool Antwerpen (BE) and JAMK University of Applies Sciences (FI). Practice partners are Moorheilbad Harbach (ARGE Beste Gesundheit, AT), the rehabilitation centre Revalidatie Friesland (NL), and Coronaria Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services (FI).

The sustainability and quality assurance of the project are supported by external partners ENPHE, EIPEN, EFAD, COHEHRE, IPCIHC (“Interprofessional Collaboration In Health Care“) from Belgium, the Lower Austrian Gesundheits- und Sozialfonds (NÖGUS), the Finnish patient representation of people with disabilities, and Dutch healthcare manager Klaus Boonstra. The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

INPRO is one of six Erasmus projects that the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences is currently involved in.