The context of practice has changed. Attention has shifted away from the approaches and expertise of practitioners to the problematic nature of practice with its unpredictable fluid particularity; unique to the setting community or social relationship within which it takes place. Rightly so then that the focus of learning should be on the needs, character and “nature of the work itself” (Boud, 2010:31). Practice has traditionally been seen as something which is individual and autonomous but in reality groups of people act interdependently and practice participants are from different occupational and professional backgrounds; not just one. The notion of autonomous practice ignores the need to consider the perspectives of others. Practice groups are not only multidisciplinary but trans-disciplinary in that the individuals may have moved on from their original study cultures (Boud, 2010). Service users are increasingly seen as partners in practice with expertise of their own which they bring to the practice forum (Reed, 2011).
This paper draws on learning theory, the sociology of empowerment and research in prescribing practice to argue that these notions are all the more the case in the world of prescribing. Progressive ways of working with service users and their families and professional colleagues across disciplines are proposed
