The interprofessional person, people and place framework for interprofessional education on the distributed training platform

Background: Distributed training in undergraduate health professions education offers challenges and opportunities. Benefits include integration into healthcare teams, continuity of care and meaningful contributions to local healthcare systems. However, challenges such as human resource constraints, limited clinical training expertise and social support issues persist. Interprofessional education (IPE) is often easier to implement in smaller rural clinical placements, although these challenges tend to be more pronounced in such contexts. Aim: This study aimed to explore IPE within rural training platforms and to develop an interprofessional person, people and place (IP3) framework to support collaborative practice. Setting: The study was conducted on two rural training platforms in South Africa involving undergraduate students from multiple health professions. Methods: A qualitative study with an interpretivist approach was used to explore IPE experiences. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from five different health professions in 2022 and 2023. Data were analysed using thematic and narrative methods with support from an independent researcher to enhance reflexivity and rigour. Results: Students on rural multiprofessional training platforms experienced formal and informal interprofessional learning opportunities influenced by intersectionality and pedagogy that shaped their practice as graduates. Collaborative practice continued to be influenced by intersectionality in the workplace. Conclusion: The study resulted in the development of the IP3 framework, which emphasises contextual transformative learning and intersectionality across curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular levels. Contribution: This framework provides a foundation for institutions seeking to introduce or expand IPE during distributed clinical training. It also contributes to the theoretical understanding of intersectionality and transformative learning in IPE.