Benefits

Interprofessional education (IPE) brings with it a wide range of benefits for those students who take part in it:

• Reflects the interprofessional nature of working practice
• Offers opportunities to broaden students’ experience and explore common aspects of care provision
• Increases understanding of other disciplines’ roles in providing care
• Facilitates authentic team working with other disciplines
• Facilitates authentic interprofessional communication -  sharing of ideas and best practice
• A wide range of bodies also firmly believe that interprofessional education is a positive way of learning:

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) “Programme providers must ensure that students have the opportunity to learn with, and from, other health and social care professionals.”(NMC, 2010).

Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) The generic Standards of Proficiency highlight the need to “be able to communicate effectively” and to “be able to work appropriately with others”. (HCPC, 2009)

Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) “An important aspect of this learning is enabling new staff to identify the links and overlaps between their responsibilities and those of other workers and to think about how to manage those to best effect for service users.” (SSSC, 2007).