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The current status of interprofessional education (IPE) in Australian and New Zealand universities is largely unexamined despite its generally acknowledged benefit. Data are also limited about the use of IPE in teaching medication safety to nursing, pharmacy and medical students. For this reason a web-based cross-sectional survey was used to gather information from Australian and New Zealand universities offering nursing, pharmacy or medical programs. Responses were received from 31 of the 43 (72%) target universities.

Interprofessional teams provide the promise of effective, comprehensive and reliable care. Interprofessional education (IPE) promotes students' knowledge and attitudes to support interprofessional teamwork, and problem-based learning formats enable students to gain valuable teamwork experience.

AIM/DESIGN:

This study investigates the experiences of staff and students involved in an identified Common Learning unit (module) named "Preparation for Practice". The unit was studied by those undertaking pre-registration undergraduate pathways in Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Diagnostic Radiography and Therapeutic Radiography at London South Bank University. The study comprised uni-professional, inter-professional and staff focus groups.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19248326

Internationally, there are a number of universities at which medical and dental education programmes share common elements. There are no studies about the experiences of medical and dental students enrolled in different programmes who share significant amounts of learning and teaching.

METHODS:

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085202

This qualitative research paper describes a successful example of interprofessional education with family medicine residents (FMR) by a nurse practitioner (NP) colleague. The educational impact of the NP role in regard to smoking cessation counselling is revealed by the analysis of 16 semi-structured interviews using a phenomenological approach. The key themes depicted the NP as an educator and mentor, encourager and referral resource. Outcomes of improved knowledge, skills, and motivation towards providing smoking cessation counselling are described.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional practice has increasingly been recognized as important for chronic illness care. Recently, several health care professional-accrediting bodies have called for integration of interprofessional care and education. The shared medical appointment (SMA) is an interprofessional practice model that provides an educational opportunity.

OBJECTIVE: A description of this innovative educational model, the challenges associated with the implementation, and the evaluation are presented.

METHOD: Mixed quantitative and qualitative analysis were utilized.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19678465

Clinical practice provides the stimulus for students and practitioners alike to recognise best practice and, if necessary, enhance and modify existing practice. Increasingly, literature related to health service delivery and health workforce planning focuses on the need for collaborative interprofessional work practices.