Integrating Psychological and Nursing Knowledge: Developing an Interdisciplinary Reflective Tool to Assess Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Communication Skills

Recent reviews of undergraduate nursing curricula highlight a number of recommendations. Among these are the need for increased interdisciplinary integration of modules, reduction in student assessments and more self-directed learning and reflection. In light of these recommendations, the teaching and assessing of therapeutic interpersonal skills for nursing practice psychology for healthcare was examined. This paper will outline the development of an interdisciplinary reflective assessment tool to help students integrate psychological and nursing knowledge for practice. As a result of on-going team meetings between nursing and psychology lecturers, some core areas pertinent to first year student nurses, and that were central threshold concepts for both disciplines, were identified for assessment. These included stress, self-care management and empathy. This interdisciplinary assessment has potential to enhance critical thinking, self-discovery, reinforce learning and promote personal and professional growth and development in student nurses.