Interprofessional Teaching and Learning in Health and Social Care Professions: An Evidence-Based Proposal for Interprofessional Education

Koch, Lee Franklin

Wednesday, 24 July 2013: 10:30 AM

Lee Franklin Koch, RN, MSc
School of Geriatric Nursing, St. Loreto College of Applied Social Sciences, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
Helga Horn, PhD
School of Medicine, Department of Health and Nursing Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany

Learning Objective 1: The learner will become familiar with evidence-based, best-practice recommendations for interprofessional teaching and learning/IPE.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be introduced to a proposal for implementation of IPE at an institutional level which can be adapted for use at other institutions.

Background: Health and social care is fractured and highly specialized, frequently resulting in poor coordination of treatment, therapy and care, which in turn can negatively affect client outcomes. Interprofessional collaboration reduces these effects by improving the quality of care delivery. Interprofessional education/IPE is seen as an effective means of preparing future health and social care workers for interprofessional collaborative practice.

Research Questions: What recommendations for implementing IPE can be gleaned from the literature? How can these recommendations be applied to pre-licensure health and social care training programs at an institutional level?

Objectives: Formulate best-practice recommendations for IPE-implementation based upon a systematic review of current literature.

Develop a proposal based upon these recommendations for implementation of IPE in the study of geriatric nursing and the social care professions.

Methods: Systematic review of literature; analysis of occupational fields and curricula of geriatric nursing, special education, early-childhood education, and youth social work.

Literature search strategy:

Databases: OVID, CINAHL, BMC Nursing, PubMed, Google Scholar & DIMDI

Terms searched: interdisciplinary, interprofessional, teaching, learning, education, health care, social care, interdisziplinär, interprofessionell, Lehren, Lernen

Inclusions: English and German language literature, publication between 1988 & 2012; systematic reviews meeting Cochrane EPOC criteria; pre-licensure interventions; interventions at an institutional/micro level

Exclusions: post-licensure interventions; interventions at macro or meso level

Number of relevant research studies: 12; number of systematic reviews: 16

Results: Best-practice recommendations for IPE-implementation; definition of common occupational settings for IPE-scenarios; curriculum synopsis showing parallel content relevant for IPE; proposal for IPE-implementation

Conclusions: The consistent application of the recommendations proposed in this presentation can help ensure successful IPE implementation in pre-licensure health and social care educational programs. This in turn promotes acquisition of interprofessional competencies, leading to a work force better prepared for interprofessional collaborative practice, which has been proven to improve quality of care and client outcomes.

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