A practice model for interprofessional education in a first year anatomy class

ABSTRACT

Interprofessional Education (IPE), at its best, provides students with an opportunity to work as a collaborative team of health care practitioners in different contexts. In the context of health professionals’ education, IPE refers to “occasions when two or more professions learn together with the object of cultivating collaborative practice, or when two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. A practice model embedded in the theory of constructivism has been developed for IPE and implemented in undergraduate health professions training in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to build on this model and determine its appropriateness for IPE implementation with first year students in a health professions faculty. A mixed method approach with a multi-phase design was adopted using focus groups with students and facilitators, reflective journals from students and facilitators and an end-of-process questionnaire completed by students. The results from the qualitative and quantitative data confirmed that the practice model was suitable for IPE.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional education
• practice model
• anatomy
• healthcare professionals
• first year students

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the NWU SoTL fund.