“Do none of you talk to each other?”: the challenges facing the implementation of interprofessional education

There is a growing interest internationally in the development of interprofessional education (IPE), with the potential goal of achieving more effective healthcare delivery. The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of introducing IPE within undergraduate health professional programmes, using a systematic review of the evidence and focus-group interviews. This paper reports findings from the focus-group interviews. Three focus-group interviews, each lasting two hours, were conducted. Participants (n = 34) were drawn from the clinical and academic environments, from health service consumers and from health professional students. Two areas were explored: (1) the feasibility of IPE and (2) perceptions of its effects. Each focus group had a primary facilitator who led the group discussion and a second facilitator audiotaping discussions and writing observational notes. Three main themes emerged: the advantages of IPE, the challenges of initiating IPE, and the role of IPE in the creation of professional identification. There was consensus in the view that IPE had much potential in breaking down traditional barriers to team working, including professional 'tribalism'. It is important for IPE to be integrated with interprofessional experiences in clinical practice. Further empirical work, focusing on student and patient outcomes in IPE, is needed.