IPE Student Training Care Homes: A Longitudinal Study
Interprofessional education (IPE) is a process that that brings together students from different disciplines to learn from, with and about each other. This model is not often utilised within UK care home settings. The existing EELE funded activity, a project led by the University of Salford called ‘Not the Last Resort’, was designed to address this gap by implementing and evaluating a 6-week IPE student training placement scheme across three care homes across in Greater Manchester. It was recently awarded the 2022 John Horder Team Award, by the General Practice with Primary Healthcare Section at the Royal Society of Medicine and The Centre of Advanced Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) for demonstrating outstanding principles of collaborative working.
Building on this initial work the team investigated the long-term impact of IPE in five care homes in Greater Manchester. From May to December 2023, students from a range of disciplines, such as Nursing (Adult, Learning Disability and Mental Health Fields of Practice), Physiotherapy, Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, and Sports Rehabilitation, were continually placed within five care homes.
There were four six-week cycles of IPE conducted, during periods of ‘overlap’, where students were out on placement at the same time. In each cycle, the students attended weekly meetings to address the goals of residents as a collaborative team.
A mixed-method evaluation ran alongside the IPE scheme which had two components:
- weekly digital surveys were administered to students and care home staff to measure the impact involvement has on their development, and
- a smaller sample of students, staff and residents involved took part in qualitative semi-structured interviews.
This work explores the positive impact engagement had on the participants knowledge, skill, and personal development, illuminates the longer-term impacts of IPE in care homes, and explores future directions for such initiatives in this environment.
Team
Professor Andrew Clark
Dr Ruth Garbutt
Sue Walker
Dr Lorna Chesterton
Colleagues from across GMH&SC, 4 HEI’s and PEF’s
Publications
A case study of implementing interprofessional education in care home settings (PDF document)
Reflections on an interprofessional student placement initiative in care homes (PDF document)
Guidance
Supporting videos