Integrating interprofessional education into 10 health and social care programmes

The current policy agenda purports the need for education establishments and practice agencies to join together to promote interprofessional working. It was within this policy context that in September 2000 the Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of the West of England (Bristol) introduced an interprofessional strand within 10 professional programmes. This article outlines a number of challenges associated with the incorporation of interprofessional education into the pre-qualifying curriculum and details the approaches used to meet these challenges. Logistical barriers associated with organising more than 700 students into interprofessional groups in a format that does not result in an over representation of any group, developing and selecting appropriate scenarios, resourcing the interprofessional modules, integrating interprofessional education throughout the whole student experience and facilitating the delivery of the interprofessional modules are all considered, together with adjustments made in the light of evaluations to date.