Mainstreaming interprofessional education in the United Kingdom: A position paper

Summary

Interprofessional education (IPE) is being built into the mainstream of professional education for all health and social care professions throughout the United Kingdom (UK) driven by the Labour Government elected in 1997, coincidentally the year that this Journal hosted the first All Together Better Health conference in London. The incoming government prioritized pre-qualifying IPE to be provided in partnership by universities and service agencies supported regionally by workforce development confederations, later absorbed into strategic health authorities (SHAs), and centrally by educational, professional and regulatory bodies. Ambitious agenda for pre-qualifying IPE set by government are being tempered by realistic assessment of current outcomes borne of experience and corroborated by evidence. This paper suggests some ways to ease constraints and improve outcomes, but emphasizes the need to generate continuing interprofessional learning opportunities that build on the basics. It argues that accumulating experience and evidence must be brought to bear in formulating criteria for the approval and review of IPE within regulatory systems for professional education. Can IPE be sustained within mainstream professional education once initial enthusiasm ebbs and earmarked funds run dry? That is the issue.

Keywords:

• Mainstreaming
• regulation
• sustainability
• interprofessional education

Notes

1. www.cipw.org.uk.

2. Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science, Health Sciences and Practice, and Social Policy and Social Work.

3. www.caipe.org.uk.

4. King's College London with Greenwich and London South Bank universities, Newcastle and Northumbria Universities, Sheffield and Sheffield Hall universities, and Southampton and Portsmouth universities, all in partnership with Health Trusts, Local Authorities and other employing agencies, working with Strategic Health Authorities.

5. www.commonlearning.net.

6. Throughout this paper we use “multiprofessional education”, as defined by CAIPE to refer to occasions when professions learn side by side for whatever purpose and reserve “interprofessional education” for those occasions when they learn with from and about each to improve collaboration and quality of care.

7. www.qaa.ac.uk.

8. www.skillsforhealth.org.uk

9. www.lg-employers.gov.uk/skills/nos/index.html, www.lg-employers.gov.uk/skills/nos/index.html.

10. www.dh.gov.uk.NationalServiceFrameworks.

11. They include:

• interprofessional education in Southampton – [email protected]

• interprofessional e-learning in Coventry and Sheffield – [email protected]

• interdisciplinary teaching in mental health in Birmingham – [email protected]

• assessment of learning in practice settings in Leeds – [email protected]

• curriculum and assessment development in interprofessional education in Belfast – [email protected]

• placement learning in health and social care in Plymouth – [email protected]

• interprofessional clinical and communications skills – [email protected]

• health care professional education in Newcastle – [email protected]