Interprofessional education in the community: where to begin

摘要

Most courses for health professionals must include some interprofessional education (IPE) in their curricula, for reasons that are a combination of evidence and aspiration. The evidence comes from an increasing recognition that health-care quality and patient safety depend more on how well the health-care system functions than on the actions of a single health profession or a single individual. Although facilities and technology are important, the delivery of health care is increasingly provided by teams of individuals from different health professions working together, each contributing their particular expertise to make the most appropriate decisions in a timely and efficient manner. In practice all health-care professionals have to work in several different teams, each with its own purpose and combination of individual professions, depending on specific clinical tasks. With the introduction of shorter working hours, it is more likely that health professionals will have to 'drop into' teams that must rapidly become cohesive, assuming and passing on responsibility for continuity of care, a little like passing batons in a relay race.