Section 1: Preparing for an IP Placement

Learning Objectives

By the end of the module you will be able to describe:

1. Situations and settings in which IPE occurs.
2. Benefits of interprofessional learning for students in clinical settings.
3. Roles of professionals in the clinical setting and academic institutions and how each can work together to develop the IPE experience.
4. Key steps in planning an IPE placement.
5. The objectives of an IPE placement.
6. Learning activities to achieve the IPE goals.
7. Methods of evaluation of the IPE component of the placement.

Clinical placements have long been used to teach health sciences students the practical skills that they can only learn through experience in the real-life setting. However, these placements traditionally take place vertically by profession, with nurses teaching nursing students, physicians for medical students, etc. Although there is often exposure to the other professions through rounds, meetings or informal job-shadowing especially in tertiary care settings, the exposure to other professions is not systematic and is not one of the learning objectives for the students. As one medical student said “I prescribe physiotherapy frequently for patients, but I do not know what the physiotherapist does”.