Interprofessional education: looking at the principles

Delivering high-quality and effective patient care is a multifaceted and complex endeavour. To achieve safe and effective practice paramedics and other healthcare professionals are required to collaborate with each other. The evidence continues to suggest that collaboration between professional groups can be challenging. Interprofessional education (IPE) offers a possible way to enhance interprofessional collaboration, and as a result of this, patient care. Paramedics are part of the interprofessional team and therefore have been and should continue to be a part of the IPE agenda.

The principles of IPE draw on the IPE literature, an evidence base, as well as the experience of healthcare professionals and the Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE). The principles are underpinned by values that are common to (or should be common to) all healthcare professionals, and these include a commitment to equal opportunities and positive concern for difference, diversity and individualism. The principles can be of value to all of those who are involved in commissioning, designing, delivering and evaluating interprofessional education. CAIPE (2002) define IPE as occurring when there are two or more professions learning with, from and about each other, with the intention of improving collaboration and enhancing the quality of care. There are a number of terms used in the literature interchangeably and at times inconsistently, which can be unhelpful. It is acknowledged that IPE includes learning in the academic and work-based setting before and after qualification.