Diversity and internationalisation in interprofessional education.

This position paper considers the perspectives regarding introducing diversity and internationalisation to the interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum. While this step may seem to be an onerous task in the challenging area of delivering quality IPE, the author seeks to demonstrate that the diversification of topics, disciplines and geographical locations can provide valuable student learning. By challenging the notion that IPE focusses on health-related topics alone and by broadening students’ education, attributes can be developed that enhance employability and address global issues for a skilled workforce capable of delivering complex care. The paper highlights interprofessional educational initiatives developed by the author that includes the introduction of such topics as arts and humanities and public protection, as well as diversification of such disciplines as hospitality management, graphic design and the police. The international initiatives included collaborations between students and staff from Scotland, Japan and Australia. The importance of promoting diversity in the interprofessional curriculum for health and social care students concurs with the strategies from the World Health Organisation's global workforce alliance and professional bodies, such as the Higher Education Academy (UK). This paper encourages educators to engage with these strategies to acquire international perspectives on professional disciplines, thereby enabling students and faculty to develop a deeper understanding of other countries and cultures. IPE educators can develop curricula to include such initiatives and ensure that tomorrow's workforce has the necessary knowledge and skills to become global professionals. By adopting these transferable initiatives, educators can develop similar interventions appropriate for different cultural contexts

Curriculum design for pre-registration nurse education: meeting skill requirements.

The preparation of newly qualified nurses has raised many professional debates and yet the end product of nurse education, the qualified nurse continues to demonstrate knowledge and skill deficits in areas considered essential to patient care. Technological advances in an ever-changing and complex clinical environment mean that certain acute clinical skills have become routine for the qualified nurse and yet few educational institutions and NHS Trusts in the UK have seen the need to address this within the pre-registration nursing curricula. This study, questions whether the pre-registration nursing curricula is failing newly qualified nurses by not adequately preparing them to cope with the complexities of practical skills within the clinical environment. This skill deficit is rectified on qualifying when nurses rapidly equip themselves with skills that are considered essential for practice. Using a constructivist paradigm and a mixed methods research approach, the opinion of key stakeholders in pre-registration nurse education was sought. Focus groups and surveys were conducted with skills teachers to ascertain essential skills. Constructive alignment theory (Biggs 1999) was tested with two student cohorts from a pre-registration nursing programme (n=58). Comparisons were made between an experimental group who acquired certain skills during their pre-registration programme and a control group who had not acquired those additional skills. The programme was evaluated using Stakes (1967) countenance model of evaluation. Data were analysed using SPSS, constant comparative analysis and triangulation. The findings confirmed that nurses should acquire the skills investigated in this study, but differences of opinion were found as to when this was acceptable. Favourable results for the experimental group were demonstrated indicating the need to provide nurses with the additional skills prior to qualifying. The study also identified other like-minded UK nurse educators who had been innovative with their skills curricula. Nursing curricula can be successfully underpinned by an educational theory such as constructive alignment providing added value to the learner and enablingnurses to enter the profession fit for practice and purpose. To further enhance the quality and standard of provision, the following are recommended: strengthening the collaborative relationships between the key stakeholders for nurse education, as well as promoting interprofessional learning and skills development. This will help improve the international credibility for the UK skills curricula

Inter-agency adult support and protection practice:a realistic evaluation with police, health and social care professionals

Purpose: Collaborative inter-agency working is of paramount importance for the public protection agenda worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to disseminate the findings from a research study on the inter-agency working within adult support and protection (ASP) roles in the police, health and social care.Design/methodology/approach: This realistic evaluation study with two inter-related phases was funded by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research. This paper reports on Phase 1 which identified existing gaps in the implementation of effective inter-agency practice by reviewing the “state of play” in inter-agency collaboration between the police and health and social care professionals. In total, 13 focus groups comprising representatives from Police Scotland (n¼52), Social Care (n¼31) and Health (n¼18), engaged in single profession and mixed profession groups addressing issues including referral and information exchange.Findings: On analysing context-mechanism-outcome (CMO), gaps in joint working were identified and attributed to the professionals’ own understanding of inter-agency working and the expectations of partner agencies. It recommended the need for further research and inter-agency training on public protection. Research limitations/implications – This unique Scottish study successfully identified the inter-agency practices of health, social services and police. By means of a modified realistic evaluation approach, it provides an in-depth understanding of the challenges that professionals face on a day-to-day basis when safeguarding adults and informed strategic recommendations to overcome the barriers to good practices in organisational working. The methods used to determine CMO could benefit other researchers to develop studies exploring the complexities of multi-causal effects of cross-boundary working. The use of the same case study in each focus group helped to neutralise bias. However, the voluntary nature of participation could have resulted in biased perceptions. The limited numbers of health professionals may have resulted in less representation of health sector views.Practical implications: Collaborative inter-agency working is of paramount importance for public protection worldwide. This paper reports on a Scottish study that focussed on the coordinated and integrated practices amongst the police, health and social services’ professionals who support and protect adult members of society at risk of harm.Social implications: Whilst the focus of this study has been on ASP, the conclusions and recommendations are transferable to public protection issues in many other contexts.Originality/value: Studies on the joint-working practices amongst police and health and social services’ professionals who support and protect adult members of society at risk of harm are uncommon. This  study investigated professionals’ perceptions of gaps and concerns pertaining to integrated working by means of a realistic evaluation approach. It recommended the need for further research and inter-agency training on public protection

Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen.

The development of Interprofessional Education (IPE) in Aberdeen during the last 20 years has had a distinctive Scottish focus as the health and social care agenda in north of the border has become increasingly different from that in England. Since 1999 the devolved government in Scotland introduced different legislation and policies in a different health care system impacting on IPE development

Using online communities to develop IPE in practice.

Interprofessional education has been perceived as problematic to teach, because of the logistics involved in managing large groups of students. The two universities in Aberdeen (Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen) decided to co-develop an online module that would combine face-to-face practical experience with computer-mediated discussion. Students interacted in interprofessional groups of 30, working to complete tasks depending on the year and course of study. These groups have the potential to stay together for the duration of the students' courses, helping to establish virtual learning communities that facilitate informal and serendipitous learning

Using IPE to develop understanding of sensitive issues.

This poster provides an overview of a project that aimed to raise awareness of female genital mutilation. The poster summarises the context, objectives, methodology and impact of the project, which was undertaken in 2015 at Robert Gordon University, exploiting interprofessional education and third-sector expertise

Playing games in IPE: a Japanese and Scottish experience.

This report describes the outcomes of a project funded by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation in 2013, which aimed to develop an educational toolkit for health and social care students and professionals

A comprehensive systematic review of pharmacy perspectives on interprofessional education and collaborative practice.

Introduction:- Pharmacists are key professionals in the collaborative working process and are integral members of the healthcare team. However, there is paucity of information regarding their perspectives towards interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice. Aims:- The aim of this systematic review is to synthesize, summarise and evaluate the quality of the quantitative and qualitative literature related to the perspectives of pharmacy students, pharmacy faculty and practising pharmacists toward IPE and collaborative practice. The perspectives included their views, experiences and attitudes with a special focus on their perceived benefits and challenges in relation to IPE and collaborative practice. Methods:- An integrated mixed method systematic review was conducted. Four electronic databases were searched for articles published in English between 2000 and 2015. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the quality of the studies. Results:- Twenty-nine articles were identified meeting the selection criteria from the first initial search of 8512 articles. Seventeen articles (59%) targeted pharmacy students, 11 articles (38%) focused on practising pharmacists and 1 study (3%) was related to pharmacy faculty. The majority of studies were conducted in the United States (n = 13), were published in the last five years (83%, n = 24) and employed quantitative methods (52%, n = 15). The two commonly used survey instruments to measure the perspectives were: different versions of the RIPLS (35%, n = 6) and the IEPS scale (35%, n = 6). Fourteen of the 29 studies were rated as low quality (MMAT = 25%), eight studies were rated as average quality (MMAT = 50%), four were rated as high quality (MMAT 75%) and three were rated as very poor quality (MMAT 0%). No studies were rated with 100% MMAT quality. Overall, the findings suggest that pharmacy students, practicing pharmacists and faculty valued interprofessional education and collaborative practice and had positive attitudes towards it. Five main findings have been identified from this review: heterogeneity in reporting IPE research, traditional professional image of the pharmacist, lack of longitudinal follow-up, lack of IPE research on faculty and paucity in mixed method studies in terms of quality and numbers. Conclusions:- These findings will provide an opportunity to stakeholders and policy makers to develop and implement IPE activities that are meaningful, comprehensive and unique. Sustained efforts are required not just in undergraduate curricula but also in healthcare settings to improve and promote an interprofessional culture at individual and organisational level

Perspectives of pharmacy students in Qatar toward interprofessional education and collaborative practice: a mixed methods study.

In an IPE environment, students are expected to have better understanding of the roles, responsibilities, and contribution of other health care professions to enhance interprofessional working and collaboration with an end result of improving patient-centred and team-based care. Although many studies have investigated students' attitudes, very few employ a mixed methods design and hardly are from Middle Eastern countries. A two-staged sequential explanatory mixed method design was used to comprehensively capture the perspectives of pharmacy students toward IPE and collaborative practice. A quantitative survey was conducted as the first stage of the study, followed by an in-depth discussion of these perspectives through a qualitative phase by conducting two focus groups. For the quantitative surveys, the overall response rate was 102/132 (77%) for pharmacy students in Qatar. This was followed by two focus groups with a total of 27 participants from senior and junior students. In exploring the qualitative data, three main themes were identified in relation to the pharmacy students' perspectives. These were on the pharmacy students' perception on the enablers (professional related benefits, patient-related benefits and current positive influences), barriers (previous IPE experiences, educational related issues and current working practices and processes), and recommendations to implementing IPE and collaborative practice (future IPE and pharmacy profession). Overall, the results demonstrate a strong readiness and positive perception by pharmacy students toward IPE and collaborative practice. This study has highlighted different dimensions in pharmacy students' perceptions. It also provided a useful insight into the readiness of pharmacy students in a Middle Eastern university. Students are seeking more IPE experiences formally incorporated into their curriculum and hence educators should capitalise on these positive and enthusiastic attitudes to identify the most effective means for delivering IPE and inform curricula planning. Collaborative practice-ready graduates will produce better-educated professionals delivering higher quality care. Please note that the name of this document 'Middle Eastern perspectives of pharmacy students toward interprofessional education and collaborative practice: a mixed methods study.' differs slightly from the published version