Forming Communities of Practice: Education of Health Professionals in Interprofessional Settings

FORMING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE: EDUCATION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN INTERPROFESSIONAL SETTINGSSusan Elaine Sterrett, BSN, MSN, MBAUniversity of Pittsburgh, 2008This qualitative study will describe and analyze the perspectives of health professions students, teachers and administrators involved in interprofessional learning experiences. The primary purpose of this study is to understand the phenomenon of participation in interprofessional learning experiences and the extent to which the elements of communities of practice are evident in these learning experiences. Interprofessionality indicates the development of a cohesive practice between professionals from different disciplines. The theoretical framework providing a context for this study is social learning theory, particularly Lave and Wenger's theory of communities of practice. A grounded theory study will utilize data obtained from semi-structured interviews and researcher memos to identify themes and concepts. The participants are graduate students, faculty and administrators from an interprofessional fellowship in developmental disabilities. The research will have implications for educators and administrators of educational programs who want to design, initiate, and sustain effective programs that promote interdisciplinarity. This study will contribute conceptually to the theory of effective interprofessional communities of practice, and to praxis through the development of a model of an effective, interprofessional community of practice