Interprofessional Education and Practice Guide No. 6: Developing practice-based interprofessional learning using a short placement model

Offering undergraduate and post-qualified learners opportunities to take part in, and reflect on, the nature of interprofessional working when in practice remains an important goal for interprofessional educators. There are a plethora of opportunities within hospital and community care for learners to actively participate in health and social care delivery where collaborative practice prevails. However, it remains challenging to know how to establish and sustain meaningful interprofessional practice-based learning. This is because profession-specific teaching is prioritised and many teams are under-resourced, leaving little time for additional teaching activities. In some instances, practitioners lack the knowledge concerning how to design meaningful interprofessional learning and often feel unprepared for this teaching because of limited interprofessional faculty development. Others are simply unaware of the presence of the different students within their practice area. This guide offers key lessons developed over many years for setting up practice-based interprofessional education. The learning model has been adapted and adopted in different settings and countries and offers a method for engaging clinical front-line practitioners in learning with, and from learners who can help support and in some instances advance care delivery.