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In this editorial, the author poses the question: where, and what, is the evidence that interprofessional education works? She have several answers to this question: if we don't do it, we won't be able to provide the evidence; where was the evidence for many educational innovations of the last decades when they were introduced (for example, problem-based learning, early patient contact and intern shadowing); and there is certainly emerging evidence that we need to manage teamwork and interprofessional communication better.

OBJECTIVES: This paper reports relevant findings of a pilot interprofessional education (IPE) project in the Schools of Medicine and Healthcare Studies at the University of Leeds. The purpose of the paper is to make a contribution towards answering 2 questions of fundamental importance to the development of IPE. Is there a demonstrable value to learning together? What types of IPE, under what circumstances, produce what type of outcomes?

In this paper, the authors define interprofessional education (IPE), describe models of IPE, and explore the problems of evaluating the IPE learning experience. Changing the way we educate health professionals is key to achieving system change and to ensuring that health providers have the necessary knowledge and training to work effectively in interprofessional teams within the evolving health care system.

In this Letter to the Editor, published in the Journal of Inteprofessional Care, doctor, professor, and researcher Jill Thistlethwaite reflects on the progress of (and challenges facing) interprofessional education and practice in Australia and New Zealand.

Please note: The full text of this article is only available to those with subscription access to the Informa Healthcare database. Contact your institutional library or the publisher for details.

Doctor, professor, and researcher Jill Thistlethwaite reflects upon interprofessional education and the impact which teamwork has upon health care.

Please note: The full text of this article is only available to those with subscription access to the Wiley Online Library. Contact your institutional library or the publisher for details.

While educators may pride themselves on innovations, the truth is that most change is driven by social factors and policy rather than by research. We are often at the whim of our politicians, regardless of our much-vaunted professional autonomy. So our complex question might be: What are the drivers for change in health professional education, how might we influence policy regarding these and what effects will they have? Rather than ‘what will education look like in twenty years?

In 2007, a partnership of academics, educators and health professionals from the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) was awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council grant to undertake a scoping and development study to establish a national research and development agenda for interprofessional education (IPE) within higher education with the aim of enhancing collaborative health care delivery. The project was titled ‘Learning and Teaching for Interprofessional Practice in Australia (L-TIPP, Aus)’.

As part of a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative we searched the literature to explore defined learning outcomes for interprofessional education between 1988, when the last WHO technical report on interprofessional education was published, and 2009. We describe and synthesize findings from 88 citations over this 21 year period. There is a variety in the way learning outcomes are presented but there are many similarities between specific outcomes and/or objectives. Papers describing educational interventions do not always include specific outcomes or objectives.

OBJECTIVE: A substantial literature engaging with the directions and experiences of stakeholders involved in interprofessional health education exists at the international level, yet almost nothing has been published that documents and analyses the Australian experience. Accordingly, this study aimed to scope the experiences of key stakeholders in health and higher education in relation to the development of interprofessional practice capabilities in health graduates in Australia.

CONTEXT: Interprofessional education (IPE) is not a recent phenomenon and has been the subject of several World Health Organization reports. Its focus is on health professionals and students learning with, from and about one another to improve collaboration and the quality of patient care. The drivers for IPE include new models of health care delivery in the context of an ageing population and the increasing prevalence of long-term chronic disease, in addition to the patient safety agenda.