CAIPE (2002) Interprofessional Education- Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow (Barr, H.) Higher Education Academy, Learning & Teaching Support Network for Health Sciences & Practice, Occasional Paper 1

The Learning and Teaching Support Network for Health Sciences and Practice commissioned this review from the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) to help teachers to engage effectively in interprofessional education. The paper reviews arguments for shared learning for health and social care professions in the Government workforce and training strategy – collaboration, substitution and accelerated career progression – noting concern expressed by universities and their teachers to clarify ends and means.

Current issues are then approached from an historical perspective, tracing the development of interprofessional education since the sixties as one of several movements from which it is distinguished with difficulty. Developments that prompted interprofessional education include the formation of primary care teams, the introduction of care in the community, investigations into child abuse and, later, strategies to effect change and quality improvement. Examples are given of work and college-based interprofessional education before and after qualification designed to modify attitudes, secure common foundations and competency-based outcomes.

The paper focuses upon interprofessional education in the UK with reference to all four countries, but stopping short of discussion of policies and practices in each. An international review (Barr, 2000) can be found on the CAIPE website (www.caipe.org.) while the Journal of Interprofessional Care covers collaboration in education, practice and research worldwide.