The Interprofessional Imperative

Professor Ivan Birch

To con-vey one’s mood in sev-en-teen syll-able-sis ve-ry dif-fic

John Cooper Clarke

Haiku

Multiprofessional: where students from more than one profession engage in a common learning, teaching

or assessment activityInterprofessional: where students from more than one profession learn with, from and about one another through a common activity, usually in the context

of practiceTransprofessional: where students study in a way that blurs or ignores traditional professional boundaries

Definitions

professional multiprofessional interprofessional transprofessional

• 35 meetings with organisationsemployers, commissioners, other stakeholders

including: Department of Health, NIHR, MoD, BBC, British Gas, CAIPE, CIHE, HEA• 25 meetings with HEIs

students, practitioners, heads of school, deans, pro-vice chancellors

Sources

What do practitioners say?

• a feeling of isolation on the part of interprofessional teams within their institution

• a paucity of knowledge of interprofessional activity in the wider HE community

• resistance to interprofessional activity on the part of the institution, where it does not align with organisational and funding structures

• desire for support from senior management groups for interprofessional activity

• none cited research as a current need

What do employers say?

• interprofessional skills are now key to employability • in some fields graduates are ill equipped for the complex

nature of the contemporary work place• we need problem solvers• mismatch of HE professions/disciplines with the needs of

employers

The imperative

•needs of employers complex nature of the real worldcomplex challengesglobal knowledge global communication

‘The era where we can afford multidisciplinary groups is becoming unaffordable. We need universities to develop graduates with interdisciplinary skills, or who can lead interdisciplinary teams.’

Anne Morrison, Director of the BBC Academy

The imperative

• needs of employers

NSSKISleague tables

•needs of commissioners•needs of PSRBs•needs of students•needs of HEIs •employability

The imperative

• role of higher education in the maintenance of a stable economy, through the production of a flexible and effective workforce

• “the economic, political and environmental pressures upon higher education institutions have placed the issue of graduate employability centre stage” (HEA’s ‘Pedagogy for Employability’, 2012)

• “Embedding employability into the core of higher education will continue to be a key priority of Government, universities and colleges, and employers.” (HEFCE 2011)

The imperative

• more than employment• development of the lifelong learner, equipped to support

their own personal and professional development• “is about learning and the emphasis is less on ‘employ’

and more on ‘ability’. In essence, the emphasis is on developing critical, reflective abilities, with a view to empowering and enhancing the learner” (Harvey, 2003)

• fundamental for a multi-career future

The plan

• bring practitioners together• share the experience of healthcare with other fields• recognise the requirements of employers• recognise the requirements of other key stakeholders• identify the gaps in the evidence base• support the development of appropriate research• spread good and effective practice

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

Mark Twain