Interprofessional learning in practice for pre-registration health care: Interprofessional learning occurs in practice – Is it articulated or celebrated?

SummaryThis paper summarises the issues involved in promoting interprofessional learning in practice both on campus and within placement areas with reference to one particular university. National drivers of Interprofessional Learning (IPL) are outlined and then explored in relation to the portfolio of pre qualifying programmes within a large, multiprofessional School of Health and Social Care. In this particular context, rapid development of campus based IPL require equally robust developments in practise based learning. Integration of IPL across the whole curriculum is considered in the light of current practice based learning initiatives and projects. From this discussion an approach to integration emerges, built on the need to explicitly articulate examples of interprofessional collaboration as they arise in every placement. These interprofessional learning opportunities need to inform assessment strategies both on campus and in practice. Inherent in this approach is the assumption that IPL does occur in practice but is not explicitly articulated or celebrated.