Interprofessional learning in practice-based settings: AMEE Guide No. 169

Abstract

The provision of optimum health care services requires collaboration of health care professionals in integrated interprofessional (IP) teams. This guide addresses the practical aspects of establishing and delivering pre-licensure IP programs to prepare graduates of health professional programs to work in teams and wider collaboration, and consequently enhance the quality of health care. The main updated IP frameworks are presented to highlight commonalities that represent the essential competencies and outcomes of programs implementing interprofessional education (IPE). We discuss how these may be adapted to the local context, and present examples of models of implementation to guide the initial steps of establishing similar programs. Examples of pre-licensure IP practice-based learning, such as community-based, simulation-based, student-run and led clinics, and interprofessional training wards, and post-licensure interprofessional learning (IPL), are described. We consider assessment of IPL along the continuum of learning IP. This guide also emphasises the need to tailor faculty development programs for local contexts and consider factors affecting sustainability such as funding and accreditation. We finish with the governance of IP programs and how global IP networks may support interprofessional practice-based learning from development to delivery.

Keywords:

• Interprofessional education/learning (IPE/IPL)
• interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP)
• frameworks, competencies and learning outcomes of IPE
• interprofessional faculty development
• sustainability of interprofessional education

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this article.

Notes on contributors

Somaya Hosny

Somaya Hosny, MBBCh, PhD, MHPE, Former Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University. EMR-WHO consultant in Medical Education. Board member in the National Authority of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Education in Egypt. Board member in the AMEEMR (regional chapter of WFME).

Jill Thistlethwaite

Jill E Thistlethwaite, BSc, MBBS, PhD, FRCGP, FRACGP, MMEd, DRCOG, adjunct professor, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney; Clinical chair, hospital non-specialist program, Health Education and Training Institute, NSW Health, Australia.

Yasser El-Wazir

Yasser El-Wazir, MBBCh, PhD, professor of physiology in the faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Board Member and faculty in the ASU-MENA-FRI, the regional FAIMER institute in the Middle East and North Africa.

John Gilbert

John H.V. Gilbert, CM, PhD, LLD (Hon), FCAHS. Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, Canada. Founding Chair, Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, Co-Chair, WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.