UON academic co-leads project to develop interprofessional learning in HEIs

Enhancing the education of health and social care stars is the guiding mission for an academic with a new, national strategy project.

Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning Alison Power is also a Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at UON and has another string to an already full bow.

Since 2018 Alison has also been the Interprofessional Education (IPE) lead for the University’s Faculty of Health, Education and Society.

The University’s IPE curriculum provides students on health and social care programmes with extra opportunities to boost their learning and future careers as they gain a greater appreciation of other professions.

As they will work alongside some of these other professions, students’ learning and working experiences are boosted with collaborative learning across the Faculty.

And it’s an approach that is paying dividends, as Alison explains: “IPE underpins high-quality care, enhances the service user experience and outcomes, and promotes interprofessional respect and effective teamworking. It’s about health and care professionals communicating and working better within cohesive teams, during their time at university and beyond.

“The NHS relies on good teamwork and it’s something I have been passionate about developing in the ‘next gens’ of students for some time. I see our students as interprofessionals who specialise in their chosen profession, such as nursing or midwifery. The IPE curriculum helps to further smooth their way into working with their multidisciplinary peers and the feedback has been so positive.

“And they clearly ‘get’ the benefits for the people they will go on to help. I recently conducted a University-funded research project with a student that looked at students’ experiences of IPE and the results showed they feel IPE here is relevant.

The leading body for IPE in the UK is the Centre for Advancement of Interprofessional Education. They recently published a new strategy for the next five years.

As part of this, Alison has been invited to co-lead one of its four Priority Groups: Faculty Development with Dr Melissa Owens from the University of York (pictured on the left with Alison).

Alison is keen for this work to have a positive impact on interprofessional education and collaborative practice and staff development at University of Northampton, and to enhance its standing and reputation in an international context.

Alison outlines the challenges ahead for the group and the benefits of her work for University of Northampton: “The group has a national remit but with the potential for global impact, so for the Faulty Development Priority Group we are already thinking big. We want to support UK Higher Education Institutions through departmental, curriculum and assessment guidance to ensure they fully utilise the benefits of IPE.

“We will be working with international experts and learning with, from and about each other. There are huge benefits for our students just by having representation in this global community of practice and I’m looking forward to bringing back new evolutions in IPE very soon.”