Interprofessional Mentoring Guide - Alberta Health Services

Through interprofessional mentoring,
students are taught about interprofessional
competencies and collaborative practice.
Debriefings, reflections and evaluation of
interprofessional competencies (such as
roles, shared decision-making) are critical
to the interprofessional mentoring process
(adapted from Freeth et al. 2005). Immediate
learning outcomes for students include role
clarity, understanding of decision-making
and guidelines for other professions and
communication skills across professions.
When implemented to its fullest, the
interprofessional mentoring of students is
shared among the members of a team rather
than being the sole responsibility of the
discipline-specific, primary supervisor.
Evidence from research and practice suggests
that placements with interprofessional
learning opportunities are attractive for
students and that graduates who have been
involved in an interprofessional practice
education tend to return to these sites
for employment. In that sense, we view
interprofessional mentoring as a recruitment
strategy. Placements that give students
exposure to the work of team members
other than their discipline-specific advisor
help facilitate the integration of students into
the practice site team, thereby easing the
transition from student to practitioner.
Sharing the responsibility for students among
all practitioners lessens the burden on the
primary supervisor and fosters a collaborative
mentorship culture (Callaghan et al. 2009).
However, not all healthcare practitioners
are trained in collaborative practice or are
familiar with the competencies required to
collaborate effectively and be comfortable
in evaluating students’ interprofessional
competencies. The Interprofessional Practice
Education Model was developed to help
staff embed interprofessional mentoring into
student clinical placements and to prepare
students for collaborative practice.