Using an assessment rubric to develop and assess teamwork skills in midwifery students

Poor teamwork is one of the top five causes of adverse events in health care yet the problem of poor teamwork persists: the so-called ‘birth wars’ is a case in point. The need for good teamwork is widely recognised but despite this, the development of student's teamwork skills are rarely the focus of undergraduate midwifery education (with the exception of emergency team drills). A search of the literature has not identified any research on the development of students’ teamwork skills for their day-to-day working lives. Aim: This presentation explores the development, implementation and evaluation of some team-based teaching and assessments practices within a Bachelor of Midwifery. The focus of the presentation will be on the innovative rubric (a descriptive scoring system) developed for self and peer marking. The rubric is based on a critical review of the literature. Initial validity checks have been positive with minor changes only. Following training, students will use the rubric to assess teamwork skills; both formatively and summatively. We will present rubric details, along with the results of pilot testing, at the conference. New graduates will be equipped to be effective team members with skills in project planning, meeting procedures, promoting positive team climate, being a dependable team member and conflict management. Educators can use our resources to duplicate these results. Managers can ask graduates for evidence of their teamwork skills and graduates can produce a completed rubric signed by their course coordinator.