Summary: Interprofessional education in maternity services: Is there evidence to support policy?

Interprofessional education in maternity services: Is there evidence to support policy?

Nigel Davies, Simon Fletcher & Scott Reeves

Against a backdrop of poor maternity and obstetric care, identified in the Morecambe Bay Inquiry, the UK government has recently called for improvements and heralded investment in training. Given the complex mix of professionals working closely together in maternity services addressing the lack of joined up continuing professional development (CPD) is necessary. This led us to ask whether there is evidence of IPE in maternity services. As part of a wider systematic review of IPE, we searched for studies related to CPD in maternity services between May 2005 and June 2014. A total of 206 articles were identified with 24 articles included after initial screening. Further review revealed only eight articles related to maternity care, none of which met the inclusion criteria for the main systematic review. The main reasons for non-inclusion included weak evaluation, a focus on undergraduate IPE, and articles referring to paediatric/neonatal care only. Fewer articles were found than anticipated given the number of different professions working together in maternity services. This gap suggests further investigation is warranted.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27705011

Summary: Interprofessional Education and Practice Guide No. 8: Team-based interprofessional practice placements

Interprofessional Education and Practice Guide No. 8: Team-based interprofessional practice placements

Margo L. Brewer & Hugh Barr

Whilst interest in interprofessional learning (IPL) in practice contexts has grown in recent years, the complexities involved have led many universities to rely on IPL in the classroom, online, and/or simulated contexts. Curtin University’s Faculty of Health Sciences has successfully implemented a multi-award winning, large-scale Interprofessional Practice Programme. This programme, which began with five small pilots in 2009, provides team-based interprofessional practice placements for over 550 students from nine professions per annum. Drawing on both the literature and Curtin University’s experience, this Interprofessional Education and Practice Guide aims to assist university and practice-based educators to “weigh the case” for introducing team-based interprofessional placements. The key lessons learned at Curtin University are identified to offer guidance to others towards establishing a similar programme for students during their prequalifying courses in health, social care, and related fields.

Keywords: Interprofessional education, interprofessional learning, practice-based learning, team-based placements


Volume 30, 2016 - Issue 6: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13561820.2016.1220930?needAccess=true&journalCode=ijic20