Shared educational sessions between UK and Dutch trainees: can boundary-crossing experiences equip us for demographic change?

Background Demographic change poses global challenges, yet healthcare professionals are often trained within a single, siloed system. Boundary-crossing experiences promote innovative thinking by exposing trainees to different external solutions. We evaluated a shared educational session, now in its second year, for UK and Dutch geriatric/elderly care medicine trainees, aiming to equip future healthcare leaders to meet these challenges.

Methods A shared, case-based online teaching session for UK and Dutch trainees included brief talks on their respective healthcare systems, followed by breakout group discussions on the patient journey within each. Trainees completed an anonymised feedback survey (Likert-scale and free text). Free-text comments were analysed thematically to identify recurring themes.

Results Sixteen participants completed the survey. 100% agreed the session was relevant to training and broadened their understanding of care pathways for frail older adults. Qualitative analysis revealed four key themes: participants highly valued the cross-national comparison of healthcare systems, the interactive, case-based breakout rooms enhanced engagement, and peer-to-peer learning was a strength. A common suggestion was to increase preparatory information to allow more time for breakout rooms.

Conclusion This evaluation suggests the shared educational session is cheap, feasible, and perceived by trainees as achieving its learning objectives. Using the Kirkpatrick model, we found positive feedback on reactions (level 1). The next step for this teaching collaboration will be to assess learning (level 2) in the following year’s session.