Interprofessional Learning at KI

Within health and medical care, you work in teams with different professions to achieve safe and qualitative care. It is therefore important to have knowledge and skills in communication and cooperation, as well as knowledge of the competence and responsibilities of different professions.

The best possible conditions for working within, leading and continuously developing activities is in collaboration with other professions.

The need for interprofessional skills will increase

The medical research, health and healthcare organisations of the future are becoming increasingly specialised, complex and integrated with other activities in municipalities, society and the business sector. The need for interprofessional skills will thus increase.

In addition, there is an increasing need for competence in working preventively, cost-effectively, with patient safety as a priority and with a global health perspective.

Based on the individual’s needs and a culture permeated by the principles of people’s equal value and an enriching diversity, higher patient safety and more effective care, rehabilitation, prevention and health, and healthcare research can be achieved through interprofessional collaboration.

KI’s educational programmes will provide the best possible conditions for working within, leading and continuously developing activities in collaboration with other professions.

Different interprofessional learning environments

Clinical interprofessional training wards, interprofessional training units at emergency departments and so-called student training units are examples of interprofessional learning environments where students of different professions learn from, about and with each other.

Other activities within clinical placements are also arenas for IPL when students from different professions have their placements during the same period and at the same unit.

IPL organisation

In order to coordinate and develop the interprofessional work within KI’s first and second-cycle programmes, the Committee for Higher Education has appointed two coordinators for interprofessional learning (IPL).

Furthermore, the IPL work is carried out in close collaboration with programme committees and departments responsible for the educational programmes, the Unit for Teaching and Learning and various groupings within Region Stockholm.

Educational programme's responsibility

IPL (Interprofessional Learning) is a prioritised area for education at KI and is included in the descriptions of the educational programmes' plans, goals, and activities. IPL is reported annually in the programmes' operational plans and annual reports.  To drive and support the implementation of the common overarching IPL learning objectives and learning activities, all programmes have IPL promoters. The promoters collaborate in an IPL network through regular meetings.  Each educational programme is responsible for designing learning activities and examinations within its courses so that the students achieve the interprofessional learning objectives.

Collaboration

The regional ALF agreement signed by KI and SLL in 2015 states that the teaching in the clinical placements must include interprofessional elements for enabling qualitative targets and preparing the students for work in complex environments that require cooperation and collaboration between staff with different competencies. 

Creating, developing and maintaining high-quality IPL is a priority area for KI. It is a distinct collaboration assignment on several levels, ranging from management level to cooperation between individual teachers within different programmes.