Who are the Learners?
This resource is geared towards supporting IPE for pre-licensure students. While some components may be similar for supporting IPE for practicing clinicians, these questions are meant to guide reasoning about designing IPE for learners from the point of entry into professional education to entry into professional practice. Understanding the learner participating in IPE helps to ensure the design and implementation of the event is geared towards their learning needs.
When designing an IPE event, consider the following questions:
- What professions are being represented in the IPE?
- When/at what point is the IPE located within their respective professional curriculum?
- What do they know about their own profession?
- What IPE events have they already experienced?
- What do they likely know about their profession in an interprofessional context?
- What do they likely know about other professions in an interprofessional context?
- What interprofessional collaboration competencies have they already developed and at what level:
- Exposure?
- Immersion?
- Practice ready?
- Have they had any IPECP experiences or observations and in what context?
- Is the IPE embedded in a course (and mandatory) or is it optional?
- If embedded, how is the IPE contributing to their grade?
- Are all the learners from all programs receiving the same grading weight (e.g., attendance versus evaluation)?
- What diverse backgrounds, abilities, and life experiences are the learners likely to bring with them?
- How are you going to ensure the IPE content and delivery is psychologically safe and accessible for diverse learners?
- How will different power hierarchies be managed during the event?
- How are unhelpful social power dynamics going to be addressed, managed and/or challenged throughout the IPE?
It is important to consider these questions when designing an IPE event or experience.
Questions like these will help inform the content, design, facilitation level and evaluation strategy needed for a best practice IPE experience.
In general, students should have foundational profession-specific content knowledge on the topics that will be explored in the IPE in order to participate – unless the sole purpose is exposure to collaboration competencies devoid of role specific knowledge. Put simply, if students are to learn about, from, and with each other as professionals for health and social care, they need to have foundational knowledge of the content to bring into the IPE experience. Foundational content may include things like clinical skills, professional roles, social justice issues, practice principles, health conditions, and theories or frames of reference, depending on the objectives of the IPE event.
In addition, it is important to consider that not all IPE competencies may develop at the same rate, nor do all of them have to be the focus in an IPE event. For example, early in professional education, learners may be better able to participate in developing competencies related to communication and collaboration, and less able to participate in competencies related to role-clarification, as they have not yet learned the scope of their professional roles. The learning objectives should reflect collaborative competencies suited to the learners’ level of experience and understanding of their profession to prevent the proliferation of professional stereotypes.
Students early in their professional learning who are participating at an exposure level to certain competencies may require more direct supervision and guidance, particularly related to clinical skills and competencies, in comparison to those at a practice-ready stage who may require less direct supervision. However, students testing out newer skills may also be more confident with opportunities to practice without constant supervision (Romito et al., 2020).
Students who have already completed clinical placements with the opportunity to observe and participate in interprofessional teams may have a deeper understanding of interprofessional collaboration competencies and professional roles but may also have experienced unhelpful stereotypes and power dynamics between professions that may need to be unlearned. Intentional design considerations may therefore be required to challenge unhelpful power dynamics (Boet et al., 2014).
Embedded IPEs require a graded component to ensure investment in the learning opportunity across profession (Doucet et al., 2014). This helps increase motivation for participation and meeting the learning objectives (Doucet et al., 2014).
In addition, it is important to consider the diversity of learners likely present in the IPE, including diversity of background, identity, ability, and life experience. Students identifying with marginalized groups often report feeling ‘unexpected’ in professional education programs, like the learning experience was not designed with them in mind (Beagan et al., 2022; Pride et al., 2022). Considering, or ‘expecting’ diversity from the outset by providing multiple ways of access and participation in the IPE, and keeping in mind that those who have experienced injustice may be both the subject of the IPE and also learners participating in the event, helps to create a more inclusive educational experience.
Learner Professional Socialization
Professional socialization is the process of gaining a deeper understanding of the beliefs, responsibilities, attitudes, and expectations of a professional role and is central to the development of a professional identity (Reinders & Krijnen, 2023). Professional socialization also impacts an individuals’ perceptions and behaviours related to professional interactions with others (Price et al., 2020). Interprofessional socialization (IPS) is a process by which members from different professions learn about the roles and responsibilities of other team members which contributes to the development of a team/interprofessional identity (Dolan & Nowell, 2023). Recent research (Price et al., 2020) challenges the popular belief that the establishment of a professional identity and an interprofessional identity are mutually exclusive processes. Khalili et al. (2013) identify that health professionals can, and need to, establish a ‘dual identity’ which includes both profession-specific and team orientations that leverage the strengths and expertise of professionals trained in different fields. Interprofessional socialization experiences within IPECP can enhance an individual’s knowledge of their professional role in relation to the larger team in a way that values their unique and complementary contributions to patient care without encouraging opposition to one another (Price et., 2020). Moreover, IPECP experiences are identified to promote interprofessional socialization where values and behaviours conducive to effective teamwork are developed and mutual understanding and trust between professionals is fostered (Price at al., 2020). Creating opportunities for interprofessional socialization not only contributes to the establishment of a dual identity but also promotes a sense of belongings to both professional and interprofessional groups which favour collaborative practice and improves quality of care (Khalili & Price, 2022). Collaborative experiences and exposure to other professions through IPECP is crucial for enhancing collaboration and effective interprofessional healthcare teams in practice (Khalili & Orchard, 2020).
In self-regulated professions, individuals are expected to monitor themselves and hold colleagues accountable to professional behaviour expectations. Learners entering professional programs may not have experienced expectations that guide interactions in preparation for the health and social care environments. Learners may need some guidance to reach the expectations of ethical and regulatory standards. This is particularly important in today’s learning and practice environments given the increasing incidence of incivility and disrespectful behaviours (Lewis, 2023; Andersson and Pearson, 1999).
Prior to interprofessional collaboration, there is opportunity for shaping behaviours that contribute to their professional development and ability to collaborate. The Professional Behaviour Rubric (MacKenzie et al., 2020) developed at Dalhousie and can be used in both the classroom and clinical setting. The purpose of the PBR is as an educational tool to assist with awareness and development or maintenance of professional behaviour along the spectrum of a self-regulated profession – from new learners to experienced practitioners. In 2024, the PBR Guide [NewTab] was updated (PBR & Guide, 2020). The adopters of the PBR should consider how principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility inform professional behaviour expectations within their specific context. The PBR Fillable Form [NewTab] and associated documentation of learning plan can be used for both formative and summative assessments (PBR & Guide, 2020). It is recommended that your program/site develop a policy and procedure guideline, so the use of the rubric is clearly communicated and expectations for its use with articulation to other policies (e.g. professional unsuitability) are known.
Resources for Learner Considerations
Inclusive pedagogy and universal design approaches for diverse learning environments [NewTab] (Sanger, 2020)
Tips and strategies for creating inclusive learning environments in post-secondary contexts.
Professional Behaviour Rubric Guide and Fillable Form [NewTab] (PBR & Guide, 2020)
The professional behaviour rubric (PBR) is a resource developed to assess students’ levels of professional behaviour, through a checklist of 17 behavioural markers. Each item includes a section where the assessor can provide an example of how the behaviour was or was not achieved. (PBR & Guide, 2020)
