Interprofessional learning

Abstract

SummaryEffective care in hospitals and in the community requires doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to work together to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients. In the UK, a shift in emphasis towards a primary care led service and recent changes to the ways in which healthcare is funded and organised, are profoundly affecting traditional patterns of working. Boundaries which define the roles and responsibilities of individual professions are becoming less clear and there is increasing overlap of knowledge and skills. The provision of effective patient care now depends much more on the individual practitioner's understanding ofthe need to collaborate within and between healthcare teams in community settings and the care provided in hospitals. This paper describes some of the ways in which those providing education and training for the professions are seeking to create opportunities for learners which will not only help them to understand the complexities of working in a multiprofessional healthcare environment, but also enable them to develop the skills and attitudes they need for interprofessional working. However, it is not yet established whether 'learning together' during basic training will result in better 'working together' in practice. Higher education institutions are understandably cautious about adopting new learning methods which make extra demands on decreasing resources. More studies are therefore needed to show whether interprofessional learning during basic education has an impact on future working practice.

Inter-professional education: Healthcare students' experiences

“…Pride in their profession came with the realisation of the importance of their own role 16 . Students valued gaining knowledge about the roles of the different professions as these roles were often unclear in the team 19 . Improved knowledge of team members' roles and responsibilities also tend to have positive effects on the patient's treatment 16 and the student's clinical experience 20 .…”

Interprofessional Learning Through Shadowing in Rehabilitations Department: A Qualitative Study of the Student´s Placement in Hospital Setting

“…According to Molander (1993), practical real-world examples are the most valuable for acquiring different types of knowledge. Students rate IPL favourably when they see that the experience they gain in their practice placements is of immediate relevance to their future professional practice (Parsell & Bligh, 1998).…”

“…In this study, patients took part in the interprofessional collaborative teamwork and all patient interactions were real, which according to Molander (1993) and Parsell & Bligh (1998) is important for learning. Earlier studies have shown that student motivation for interprofessional collaboration appears to be strengthened by IPL through practice-based shadowing (Fougner & Hortvedt 2013, Lindqvist 2005).…”

The Development of Competencies in Interprofessional Health Care for Use in Health Science Educational Programs

“…Although there are issues that cause barriers to interprofessional learning at the pre-licensure level, such as basic differences in curriculum structures, lack of support, lack of comfort in teaching across disciplines, and financial constraints [26], one of the major difficulties is a clear understanding of what competencies should be emphasized and measured in an undergraduate interprofessional curriculum [7]. Certainly, competencies are often used within specific professions to create standards within the profession [27,13]; however, interprofessional competencies have been difficult to agree upon across disciplines and practice settings.…”