Tamas Fülöp Award - The network - Towards Unity For Health

Interprofessional Education:
A Personal Perspective
Interprofessional education (IPE) has been
only minority educators have dared to
described in as many ways as there are
engage in IPE while the rest still wallow in
attempts to implement it. The most recog-
their singular, isolated professional prac-
nised definitions, particularly for European
tice. The majority ridicule those who try to
and Western countries, have been sum-
look for answers of complex healthcare from
marised in a report by Della Freeth et al. on
a broader interprofessional perspective.
A critical review of the evaluation of
Consequently, the general consensus among
Interprofessional Education commissioned
those who have accepted IPE as a future
by learning and teaching Support Network
reality is that it is still far from solving the
Health Sciences and Practice from the
real challenges of complex healthcare issues
Interprofessional Education Joint Evaluation
Professor Ratie Mpofu
such as mental health, HIV/AIDS pandemic
published in May, 2002. It emphasises
and health promotion in general.
shared problem solving and collaborative
common site for interprofessional clinical
decision making particularly in complex
practice or a service learning module has to
My personal experience is that for IPE to
health problems.
In Africa and other underdeveloped countries,
lack of qualified personnel, limited
professional programmes, sparse health
facilities, increase of pandemics such as
HIV/AIDS and the continuing challenges of
poverty as well as political struggles, have
forced professionals to work together and to
be multi-skilled. Healthcare professions in
developing countries have no luxury of specialisation.
In most cases, the only available
healthcare practitioner may be a nurse who
is expected to know about all health needs
of clients. The challenge therefore is to
equip one health practitioner with all skills
required for care of not only one individual,
but also of eradicating preventable diseases
in partnership with other professionals and
lay persons.
Attempts to train generic workers have had
little success, and more recently, IPE has
be developed since objectives are seen to
overlap more in practice than in theory.
For IPE to succeed, there should be an
understanding of why professionals should
learn together. Sharing an anatomy class
may be cost effective, but may not produce
interprofessional collaboration. The students
from different professions have to
critically review why they should sit in one
class, learn the same material or attend to
the same client. In trying to answer these
questions, students may discover the
amount of overlapping knowledge, both
theoretical and practical, coupled with the
strength of each professional expertise
which they will require to practice collaboratively.
In most cases, this overlap of knowledge
has kept professionals apart, emanating
into professional and protective professional
acts, which in some cases do not
allow for interprofesional practice. The professional
boards often set learning out-
succeed the following should be taken into
consideration: development of core courses
combining theoretical and practical knowledge;
designation of sites for collaborative
practice with generic educators or supervisors;
the involvement of lay persons, e.g.
communities in developing the curricula
and student supervision; a generic assessment
system for students; analytical teaching
methods allowing for sharing of ideas
among the different profession.
Those who have attempted interprofessional
education will agree that challenges
include finding a common depth of knowledge,
synchronising curricula and timetabling
difficulties as well as developing
common method of assessment of learning
outcomes.
For all professions to learn together for the
benefit of the clients and communities they
serve, changes have to be made at curricula
J U L Y 2 0 0 8 N E W S L E T T E R N U M B E R 0 1 | V O L U M E 2 7
been seen as an acceptable alternative
comes and competences in line with their
and professional attitude level. Finally, the
since it does not challenge professional
international partners without reference to
willingness to analyse and participate in
identity. IPE requires several approaches,
the growing interprofessional practice need-
this process no matter what profession one
such as more than one profession learning
ed for comprehensive healthcare in under-
comes from is the key to the success of IPE.
together using the same learning materials,
developed countries.
tutors and time tables with the aim of
Ratie Mpofu | Dean, Faculty of Community
achieving the same goals. The assumption
More recently, the definitions of interprofes-
and Health Sciences, The University of the
is that there is generic knowledge and skills
sional practice and collaborative practice
Western Cape, South Africa
which each profession should have, without
have been addressed by the WHO Working
Email: rmpofu@uwc.ac.za
losing professional identity. Further, a
Groups, of which I am a member. However,
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