Planning for Interprofessional Education opportunities
Quality care consists of meeting a client’s healthcare needs and goals. Rarely is there a setting where only one health professional can meet all of the healthcare needs of a client.
In this video, we hear from Teresa and Anne from the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, who discuss how learning opportunities can be facilitated during an interprofessional student placement.
Interprofessional education opportunities during the student placement
There are many opportunities for interprofessional interaction in a student placement. Some examples include:
- Orientation, tutorials or in services involving students from more than one profession. These could focus on topics that are relevant to a range of health professionals, for example, models of care, referral pathways, micro-counselling skills or building a therapeutic relationship with the client.
- Team meetings, or ward rounds attended by a range of health professionals and students, to provide students with an opportunity to observe and participate in team communication
- Case studies, case conferences and/or case screening that allow students from different professions to discuss their roles and scope of practice in the context of the care of a client.
- Observation of a health professional or student health professional from another profession providing care
- Project based placements that require input from more than one health profession.
- Group therapy sessions or home visits that can be delivered by professionals and or students from different health backgrounds.
- Discharge planning meetings where student can observe the written correspondence and team discussions completed by the multi-disciplinary team.
Themes for learning outcomes from interprofessional learning
The table below unpacks some of the learning outcomes associated with interprofessional education.
|
Outcome/theme |
Sub-themes |
|
Teamwork |
Students gain knowledge and skills in:
|
|
Roles/ responsibilities |
Students can appreciate differences and similarities in the roles, responsibilities and expertise of team members and gain knowledge in:
|
|
Communication |
Students appreciate the differences in professionals’ language and learn to communicate with other students and professionals involved with client care. This can include:
|
|
Client centred care |
Students appreciate the value in working together as a team in the best interests of the client. This can include:
|
|
Ethics/attitudes |
Students gain knowledge and skills in:
|
As you can see, learning outcomes include teamwork, communication, reflection, and understanding ethics, attitudes and client centred care. The knowledge and skills students achieve from these learning outcomes will guide their transition to a ompetent health professional.
Examples of interprofessional education opportunties within the workplace
- Health Education and Training (HETI): have a series of resources and examples of Interprofessional Education in their 'Placement Models and Opportunities' section of their website.
- Queensland Health - Capricornia Student Led Clinic
- UQ Health Care student assisted clinics
- Student assisted clinics to support neurological rehabilitation in remote Queensland
- Monash Peninsula Health Increasing capacity through student led clinics
- IPE simulation scenarios Edith Cowan University including video clips, proposed learning format and competencies and a facilitator manual for each topic.
References:
- About the Health Fusion Health Care Team Challenge, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.healthfusionteamchallenge.com/
- Thistlethwaite, J. & Moran, M. (2010). Learning outcomes for interprofessional education (IPE): Literature review and synthesis. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 24 (5), 503–513. https://doi.org/10.3109/13561820.2010.483366
- Occupational Therapy Clinical Education Program (2019) Factsheet: Supporting student learning through interprofessional opportunities. Queensland Health
