title: Preparing health students for interprofessional placements.
abstract: Clinical education increasingly includes opportunities for interprofessional (IP) placements but few opportunities for students and supervisors to adequately prepare for such placements. The aim of this project was to further develop and evaluate an online multidisciplinary resource that was originally designed to prepare students for single-discipline placements. The revised resource aimed to prepare health students and their supervisors for IP placements. The resource was trialled in host organisations with participants from naturopathy, nursing, osteopathy and pharmacy. The resource used language that was common to all participants and comprised activities that had broad relevance such as orientating students to specific placements, developing learning plans, clarifying roles, rights and responsibilities, and clinical scenarios that raised ethical and professional issues. The effectiveness of the resource as an IP learning tool was evaluated using an E-survey, focus groups and feedback from the project team. According to participants, the resource afforded insights into what other disciplines do and opportunities for cross-disciplinary interactions, which helped break down stereotypes and misconceptions. Cross-disciplinary commonalities such as those pertaining to patient care, communication and ethics became evident. Collaborative projects involving academics, clinical supervisors and students from multiple disciplines provided an opportunity for culture change in an education organisation from single discipline to a more collaborative interdisciplinary one.
authors.affiliation: School of Health & Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: sandra.grace@scu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grace
authors.affiliation: School of Health & Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: gopi.mcleod@scu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Gopi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McLeod
authors.affiliation: School of Health & Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: julie.streckfuss@scu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Streckfuss
authors.affiliation: School of Health & Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: lissa.ingram@scu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Lissa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ingram
authors.affiliation: School of Health & Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: anniekmorgan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D016390:Allied Health Occupations / Q000193:education; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D017144:Focus Groups; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007858:Learning; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Clinical practicum; Clinical supervision; E-learning; Interprofessional learning; Work integrated learning