The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7501 p571-572
10 May 2008

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Interprofessional education: preparing future pharmacists for 2020

Neena Lakhani and Elizabeth Anderson describe the involvement of Leicester pharmacy students in a programme of inter-professional learning that aims to improve the effectiveness of team working between health and social care professionals and thus the quality of patient care

SUMMARY

Interprofessional education is defined by the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) as “occasions when two or more professions learn from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care”.

In health and social care, patients are cared for by multidisciplinary teams involving a wide range of healthcare-regulated professionals and the voluntary sector. In some instances cross-boundary working involves many other statutory organisations such as police, teachers and housing.

It is essential that effective team working, collaboration and communication exists across practitioner boundaries. Interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaboration between different professions are vital aspects of achieving such team working.

IPE should not be confused with multiprofessional education, which involves two or more professions learning the same content side by side. IPE focuses on the way in which practitioners learn together to work together for the benefit of the user.

Pharmacy students need to develop respect for other professions who work in different ways, to build trust and to acquire communication skills in working together to enhance and strengthen a diverse workforce. It is also useful to understand their contribution to the principles required for collaborative working within the NHS.

Hospital pharmacists are already familiar with participating in multidisciplinary ward rounds and discussions about patient care. However, community pharmacists often work in isolation from other healthcare professionals. They are frequently asked by patients about social care problems or where to go for more specialist help. In this way they become part of the complex web of advisers who can help to ensure people’s health care needs are met. It follows that community pharmacists need to appreciate the roles of other healthcare professionals and refer appropriately.

Communication between health and social care professionals in primary care seems to be fraught at the best of times. Professional prejudices are still rife, creating barriers that have long been impermeable, with many people still working in silos.

The Department of Health has announced radical proposals for reconfiguring pharmacy services to meet the demands of patients, posing challenging problems for service delivery and pharmacy education. Interprofessional working is now seen as an integral part of service delivery and this poses some intriguing questions, regarding preparation for higher education institutions.

How are these skills learnt? With whom should students interact? At what stage in the curriculum should this be taught? Can IPE be taught in the traditional ways of teaching? Will tutors be comfortable teaching other disciplines?

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