IPE and the rural and remote practice context
Teamwork is an essential part of providing effective health care when working in a rural and remote setting, and provides a great opportunity for students to observe interprofessional collaborative practice in action. To support rural workplace ready graduates, it is important that rural and remote student supervisors identify opporutnities for interprofessional education. Incorporating interprofessional education in a rural clinical placement can enhance a placement by:
- enabling students to target a key clinical goal of working in a team
- increased exposure to other professions
- increased understanding of roles within a team
- reinforcing client-centred care and patient safety
For information about interprofessional education including tools, refer to Interprofessional Education.
Rural and remote IPE Resources
- Recent Papers and Reports – Arhen
- ‘Promoting IPE in rural health setting article IJERPH | Free Full-Text | Promoting Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice in Rural Health Settings: Learnings from a State-Wide Multi-Methods Study (mdpi.com)
- The National Rural Health Student Network position papers
References:
- Health Workforce Australia. Expanded scopes of practice program.
- Health Education Training Institute (2012). The Learning Guide – A handbook for allied health professionals facilitating learning in the workplace. Sydney: HETI. Retrieved from http://www.heti.nsw.gov.au/Global/HETI-Resources/allied-health/allied-health-learning-guide.pdf
- National Rural Health Student Network (2013). Extended scope of practice, emerging health professions and rural career pathway attraction opportunities position paper.
- National Rural Health Student Network (2012). Inter Professional Education (IPE) position paper.
- Smith, T., Stone, N. & Bull, R. (2008). In Liaw, S. & Kilpatrick, S. (Eds.). A textbook of Australian Rural Health. Australian Rural Health Education Network, Canberra.
