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Integrating Common Learning in Pre-registration Health and Social Care Professional Programmes

Background:

Over the last decade the University of Southampton, and within it the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, has been committed to developing a model of interprofessional learning and teaching for all health care professionals in partnership with key stakeholders. As a result of this long-term vision the New Generation Project was established in 1999. The Project has since expanded and evolved to become a partnership between the University of Southampton, the University of Portsmouth and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Workforce Development Confederation. The Partnership reaches across fourteen professional programmes; four faculties; two universities and the health and social care organisations that support student learning in practice.

In January 2002 the Project was identified as one of the four Department of Health national ‘leading edge sites’ to take forward common learning as part of reforming pre registration education. The investment has enabled the development and delivery of integrated common learning across eleven professional pathways and commenced in October 2003 and results in students experiencing common learning in each year of their programme. This innovation has involved significant curriculum revision and culture change, enhanced delivery of innovative learning approaches and in the longer term the evolution of new programme pathways and health professional outputs.

Integrated Common Learning

The Common Learning Curriculum is the mechanism through which we enable students to learn about, and assess their ability to:

1. Respect, understand and support the roles of other professionals involved in health and social care delivery.
2. Make an effective contribution as an equal member of an inter-professional team.
3. Understand the changing nature of health and social care roles and boundaries.
4. Demonstrate a set of knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes which are common to all professions, and which
    underpin the delivery of quality patient/client focussed services.
5. Learn from others in the inter-professional team.
6. Deal with complexity and uncertainty.
7. Collaborate with other professionals in practice.
8. Understand stereotyping and professional prejudices and the impact of these on inter-professional working.
9. Practice in a patient centred manner.

The curriculum contains both 'Learning in Common' and ‘Inter-professional Learning’. Learning in Common includes the topics that are common to all the programmes but which are taught and assessed within the profession specific programmes. Inter-professional Learning (IPL) is where the students come together in multi-professional learning groups to learn from and about each other; and be assessed on their achievement of inter-professional learning outcomes.

Learning in Common

The Learning in Common component of the curriculum comprises the knowledge and skills that underpin health and social care practice and are common to all the professions. Where this learning is a pre-requisite for an IPL unit, the profession specific programme is responsible for ensuring that students reach the required standards, at the right time, to be able to participate fully in the inter-professional learning. Although students will not be required to learn in multi-professional groups for Learning in Common, the curriculum development and management process for this component of the curriculum provides the opportunity to develop, where appropriate, shared learning resources and common outcomes.

Inter-professional Learning Units

There are three inter-professional learning units. These units will require students to use what they learn in their profession specific programmes to build inter-professional understanding of practice-based issues; and to support the learning of all members of the learning group. The units  focus on developing the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to support collaborative working in health and social care.

Unit 1 - Collaborative Learning: This unit  introduces students to the concept and practice of collaborative learning and team working and develops their  knowledge management and IT skills needed to participate in collaborative learning supported by on-line methods.

Unit 2 - Inter-professional Team Working: This unit provides students with an opportunity to apply their team working and negotiation skills in an inter-professional context.

Unit 3 - Inter-professional Development in Practice: This unit  will help students examine inter-professional working in modern health and social care services from a personal, professional and organisational perspective.