Integrated Teaching in Allied Health Science Education

Traditional allied health science education involves teaching subjects in silos. The subjects are taught by the respective teachers in the designated year of the undergraduate (B.Sc) or postgraduate (M.Sc.) allied health science courses. Students also study these subjects in silos. However, when they must apply this knowledge, it needs to be used in combination. Patients or situations requiring allied health science professionals’ expertise do not present themselves subject-wise, year-wise, or course-wise. They require a holistic application of knowledge and skills acquired across different subjects and throughout the years of study. This can be strengthened by adopting integrated teaching for important and complex topics.

Integrated teaching involves merging different subjects and skills to provide a more cohesive and holistic learning experience for the students. It breaks down the artificial boundaries created between subjects and specialties. Integrated teaching connects the basic sciences taught in the earlier years of graduation with the applied and clinical aspects emphasized in the later years. This helps bridge the gap between basic and clinical learning. It requires collaboration, communication, and ongoing discussion among faculty members across various departments and years of the graduation.

The integration ladder comprises eleven steps, as illustrated in the Figure 1.

Nesting, sharing and correlation can be used effectively for integrated teaching. Nesting involves teaching applied concepts in basic science classes. In nesting, individual subjects or topics recognize broader curriculum outcomes and relate. Sharing involves two or more teachers of different subjects coming together to jointly teach a common topic or closely related topics. Correlation involves teaching related topics in their respective subjects first in isolation, followed by a common session on the broader topic or the topic as a whole. In the common session, a case-based discussion approach using paper cases or linker cases can be conducted. Although this type of integrated teaching requires more time, effort, planning, and preparation, it provides impactful learning and a memorable experience for students. These sessions help impart an in-depth understanding of complex topics to the students.

The benefits of integrated teaching are manifold:

1. Increased learner motivation and engagement: Students are more likely to be motivated and interested when teaching is made more relevant and interconnected. It is like a story with continuity-we all love stories, and so do our students.
2. Better retention of knowledge: Students can grasp and understand the concepts better, which helps them retain what they have learned.
3. Real-world relevance: Integrated teaching helps students understand how different subjects are interconnected and related to real-life situations, making learning meaningful and practical.
4. Enhanced collaboration and teamwork: Teachers can model collaboration and teamwork for students and reinforce these skills through integrated teaching.
5. Promotion of critical thinking and problem-solving skills: Integrated teaching encourages students to analyze knowledge, information and skills from diverse perspectives when solving complex problems.
6. Development of essential skills: It fosters creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability, all of which are crucial in healthcare system.
7. Personal and social development: It improves teamwork skills and encourages positive changes among students and teachers by creating a friendly environment.

The challenges for integrated teaching in allied health science education could include a lack of will, resistance to change, insufficient leadership support, inadequate teacher training, and limited infrastructure and resources. The good news is that these challenges can be addressed and enable us to empower students through integrated teaching. Therefore, let us make an effort to integrate and educate the students of allied health sciences.

I thank the Assistant editors, Dr. Arvind and Dr. Manjunath, for reviewing the editorial, and the Healthminds team for their assistance in preparing it.