Learning together in practice: an interprofessional education programme to appreciate teamwork

BACKGROUND: the paper reports on the first 100 students who completed ward-based interprofessional learning using the Leicester Model of Interprofessional Education. Pre-registration health and social care students were placed in small groups (n = 2-5) to learn together on a care of the elderly ward. The students cared for one in-patient to analyse the care package and the contributions of all members of the ward clinical team. At the end of the week the student team presented their patient case to the ward team offering solutions to problems in an interactive feedback session. METHOD: a multi-method evaluation aimed to assess the impact of the learning. Tutors completed a post-course questionnaire. RESULTS: the results confirmed that the learning was worthwhile. Students learned about related policy, patient involvement in discharge, the roles and responsibilities of team members in care delivery, the importance of effective communication, the complexity of teamworking and team decisions on discharge. They highlighted the added benefit of learning interprofessionally. All tutors saw the value of the interprofessional learning and welcomed student feedback which could be used to improve patient care. Clinicians had to balance clinical work and teaching. DISCUSSION: interprofessional learning in clinical areas requires effective models which engage students and ward teams. The Leicester Model can be applied in hospital settings to establish student team learning that is experiential, reflective and contributes to improving the quality of patient care.