La notificación del auto del 19 de abril de 2004, al señor Fernando Pérez Sán-

The researcher found that due to the interactions that some students had with other disciplines in the designated modules it became clearer to them about other professions‟ roles and how their role was relevant in complementing their own to ensure holistic care.

“I enjoyed working with the different professions where we got to learn about exactly what other professions do”

“…also for referrals when you look at a child you know that this child requires an oral hygienist and not a dentist.”

38 “…like the other said in first and second year it didn‟t make sense but now when you are in 4th year you actually realise the importance of an interdisciplinary team and working on the different health profession‟s role so you don‟t like overlap your role with someone

else”

Everyone has a different thing that they do with the people, like a social worker can‟t do what the physiotherapist do. That is also important. It‟s important to have an

interdisciplinary team for every profession to do their part”

The coordinator added that some students expressed surprise about the other professions roles and expressed many insights into the scope of other professions and the programme. Therefore, students often requested more time in the community to work in interdisciplinary teams, as highlighted by the coordinator in the quote below. The coordinator mentioned that the students often expressed that training should be interdisciplinary at all times and not limited to one discipline. He mentioned that generally students worked well and to a lesser extent noticed tensions between disciplines.

“…what always came out is that there was a request from students for more time in the community to work interdisciplinary. There were many realizations of the scope of the other profession and within the programme. Therefore students expressed that there is limited interaction. Students mentioned that this is how it should be all the time in our

training and not limited to own discipline”

In contrast one of the groups mentioned that they did not necessarily gain an understanding of the other disciplines through the IPE programme but more through general interaction with people out of class. Their reason was linked to several factors which included the initial encounter which they felt was premature to introduce the IPE programme in the first year of study. They also felt that the structure of the modules did not necessarily include roles and responsibilities of different professions and the divisions into groups was not necessarily interdisciplinary as one or two professions would dominate.

39 “to be honest I think the way the IPE is structured now, I think it‟s more destructive than

constructive because for the simple reason that people do click off in class like physio, dentistry, etc, they stay in their groups…..we are going to schools and we all have our groups but people sit in their disciplines and talk among themselves about people in their

interdisciplinary groups….it‟s very destructive and again it‟s going to give an immature and imperfect perception of what each discipline really is about”

The researcher also concluded that instead of 3rd and 4th year placements, being involved in discipline specific projects, it would be beneficial to try and encourage interdisciplinary projects.

The students also expressed appreciation of the other professions‟ work. For example they described that they learnt a lot about the workload of the different professions and also the difficulty encountered in each profession.

Both field coordinators mentioned that students were accommodated together for the period of the placements and have time to interact even in the evenings. The students concurred with this as they mentioned that they would sit down and discuss projects at the house. A lecturer would come to the placement sites and do presentations on IPE to give them an insight on interdisciplinary work.

The students‟ knowledge improved after having gone through some of the modules of IPE and interactions with other students. There was clarity and a shift from the initial encounter to a better understanding of the programme objectives, increased understanding of the content and appreciation of other professions‟ roles. Through various interactions with other students, they began to understand the role of other professions in the health care setting within a holistic context in which their profession fits. This is supported by various authors who describe positive changes in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes towards interprofessional work. This results from the greater level of interaction with the other professionals during the learning process which would not have been acquired in uniprofessional education (Liakos et al, 2008; Mendez et al, 2007; Cooper et al 2001). This is considered as one of the strong benefits of the IPE programmes. The key informants also confirmed this shift by relating that many of the students expressed this

40 realization, requested more time to work in an interdisciplinary way and that training should be interdisciplinary all the time. However it was also noted that students‟ negative perceptions can surface or be reinforced by a lack of clarity about the programme.