University of Tasmania, Australia

Inter-Professional Learning – breaking down barriers between health care professionals

The School of Nursing and Midwifery is spearheading a program to develop Inter-Professional Learning (IPL) within the Faculty of Health Science in the area of aging. This reflects a number of imperatives including the recommendations of the National Health Workforce Taskforce and Tasmania’s ‘Partners in Health’.

This program has evolved in conjunction with faculty initiatives which have focused on embedding IPL initiatives across courses within the Faculty of Health Science which has highlighted the lack of evidence relating to effective IPL models and their incorporation into T&L curricula. Given the shift towards patient centered care in all of the health professions UTAS and the FHS have made facilitating effective IPL a key strategic priority.

A useful working definition of Inter-professional Learning (IPL) in the area of Health is: “occasions when two or more professions learn from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of patient care” (CAIPE, 2005). The ultimate aim of IPL is to develop a workforce that can work effectively as a team, and work across professional boundaries thereby facilitating collaborative practice to improve the quality of patient care.

A systematic review of the IPL literature would address this issue by providing a much needed foundation upon which future IPL developments would be based. The review would also give guidance to existing and new IPL projects both in the Faculty of Health Science and collaborative initiatives across the broader University community. 

This scholarship will support a systematic review of the IPL literature to address the evidence gap and support the implementation of a pilot intervention which will facilitate the operationalisation of IPL within undergraduate curriculum.