Enhancing interprofessional student practice through a case-based model

Abstract

Healthcare workers are increasingly being called upon to work collaboratively in practice to improve patient care and it seems imperative that interprofessional working should be mirrored in student education, especially during placements. This short report describes a qualitative evaluation of a client-centered, case-based model of interprofessional education (IPE) which aimed to improve interprofessional communication and team working skills for the students and therapists involved in practice placements. The IPE project implemented the meet, assess, goal set, plan, implement, evaluate (MAGPIE) framework for interprofessional case-based teaching (Queensland-Health (2008)) alongside the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO, 2001). Three separate focus groups explored the experiences of the students, therapists and placement facilitators from the disciplines of occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. Three themes emerged: IPE as a motivating experience, IPE enhancing the depth of learning and clarity of expectations. This report concluded that IPE in the clinical setting, using the client-centered MAGPIE model, provided a strong foundation for enhanced learning in practice education contexts.

Keywords::

• Education
• focus group
• interprofessional learning
• qualitative method

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Judith Nance and Delena Amsters from Queensland Health for their generosity in sharing the MAGPIE concept and resources. Also, the therapy students and practice educators who participated in the IPE project.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the writing and content of this paper. The National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning provided funding for the research element of this project