This document discusses interprofessional education (IPE) activities at Flinders University Medical Program. It provides definitions of IPE and outlines why it is important. It describes current IPE activities across different years of the MD program in South Australia, including simulations and placements involving nursing, allied health, and Aboriginal health students. Future ideas for IPE activities in the Northern Territory Medical Program are proposed, such as anatomy peer teaching, deteriorating patient simulations, and palliative care problem-based learning cases. Limitations around funding and curriculum constraints are also noted.

2. Faculty/Presenter Disclosure
Slide 1
• Faculty: Greg Raymond
• Relationships with
commercial interests:
–None

3. Disclosure of Commercial
Support
Slide 2
• Potential for conflict(s) of interest:
None.

4. Interprofessional Education
in the Northern Territory
Medical Program
Muster Unplugged
A/Prof Greg Raymond
Director of Preclinical Education
Years 1 & 2 NTMP

5. Overview
• What is IPE & why is it important
• What IPE activities has Flinder’s
launched across the MD already?
• What future ideas have been talked
about for NTMP?
• Audience ideas & comments welcome

6. Interprofessional Education
• Definitions
“When 2 or more professions learn from and about each
other in order to improve collaboration and the quality of
care” – CAIPE 2002, Center for Advancement of IPE.
• Rationale
“IPE promotes collaborative practice and teamwork,
improves quality of patient care and increases job
satisfaction” – WHO 2010

7. Why is it important?
AMC Standard 4.7
The medical program ensures that students work with, and
learn from and about other health professionals, including
experience working and learning in interprofessional teams.
Flinders University has identified IPE as a strategic focus
(as stated in the recent AMC report) & is working to audit
the current activities and to consolidate a common set of
IPE standards across the School of Medicine.

8. Flinders MD Graduate Outcomes
• Domain 2: Clinical practice - the Flinders University
medical graduate as a practitioner: Can communicate
effectively and culturally appropriately in diverse and
inter-professional health care teams to illicit information
needed to support accurate problem formulation and
optimal health care provision to diverse populations.
• Domain 4: Professionalism and leadership - the
medical graduate as a professional and leader:
Knows and demonstrates a commitment to high
standards of personal and professional behaviour with
patients and their families, colleagues and inter-professional
teams.

9. Year 3 Clinical Performance
• LO1: Demonstrate an understanding
of the practice of medicine in the
context of the health care system
– Practice patient care as part of a clinical
team, and work effectively as a student
member of a health care team
– Demonstrate the professional attitudes and
behaviour of a clinical practitioner.

10. IPE in Flinders South Australia
• FU Rural Clinical School (FURCS)
– Parallel Rural Community Curriculum
(PRCC)
– Medical students spend their 3rd year in
general practice
– GGT, Riverland, Hills Mallee Fleurieu
(HMF), Barossa
– Launched Pilot Implementation Plan for
IPE (late 2013 - 2104)

11. IPE in Flinders South Australia
• PRCC IPE Goals for 2014
– To have 6 IPE activities per Year 3 semester (12/yr)
– All sessions involve at least two facilitators from 2 or more
health professional disciplines (eg GP clinical educator
and IPE educator from discipline other than Medicine)
– At least two clinical scenarios involve students from a
health professional discipline other than medicine (so
students learn with, from and about each other)
– At least two clinical scenarios involve an Aboriginal person
playing a significant role (eg standardised patient or
Aboriginal health worker)

12. IPE in Flinders South Australia
• PRCC Activities in 2014
– Contracted dedicated IPE educators
employed in each of the different regions
– Riverland (Jan-Aug) – 16 IPE teaching
sessions
• Clinical simulation scenarios facilitated by
doctor & nurse.
• Some sessions involved paramedic students
• One session with Aboriginal standardised
patient

13. IPE in Flinders South Australia
• PRCC Activities in 2014
– GGT(Jan-Aug) – 9 IPE teaching sessions
• Clinical simulation scenarios facilitated by doctor
& nurse.
• Most sessions involved nursing, midwifery,
paramedic and allied health students
– HMF (Jan-Aug) – 4 IPE teaching sessions
• Clinical simulation scenarios facilitated by nurse &
other health professionals.
• One session with Aboriginal standardised patient

14. IPE in Flinders South Australia
• PRCC Activities in 2014
– Barossa (Jan-Aug) – 12 IPE teaching sessions
• Clinical simulation scenarios and tutorials facilitated by
doctor & nurse.
• 6 sessions involved nursing & paramedic students
• One session with Aboriginal standardised patient. One
session facilitated by Aboriginal presenter
• Initial Evaluation
– Students are happy with the sessions
– Focus on short clinical scenarios related to but not
the same as the PBL cases

15. • VITA
IPE in Flinders South Australia
– Collaborative partnership between FU, Aged Care
Health Group, SA Health
– New sate-of-the-art clinical training & education
centre built at the Repat Hospital at Daw Park in SA
– Working with Flinders Faculty of Medicine, Nursing
& Health Sciences
– Established an IPE Project working group &
Reference group in 2014
– Taking students in 2015 for IPE training after review
of IPE across the University

16. IPE in Flinders NTMP
Year 1
• Remote Health Experience
– 3 day event at Katherine CDU campus held in
March
– Remote health focus. Interprofessional focus.
Indigenous health focus
– Yr 1 NTMP students, CDU nursing students, CDU
Pharmacy students & Bachelor Institute Aboriginal
Health Practitioner students
– “Walking in each others shoes – Honouring each
other’s stories”

17. IPE in Flinders NTMP
Year 1
• Remote Health Experience
– Teaching by rural & remote clinicians, staff from
Aboriginal medical health services
– Cultural sessions by Indigenous Community group
– Workshop with 8 skills stations (40mins)
• Troopy rollover, chest pain, bush medicine, trachoma
screening, communication, hydration, bush first aid,
emergency management
– Cultural painting session related to medicine &
healing

19. IPE in Flinders NTMP
Year 2
• Nursing placement for medical students
– 4 day placement of students on an RDH ward
completed before starting year 3
– Objectives
• To appreciate the nurses role in relating to relatives
and in patient education and comfort, to witness the
extent to which doctors depend on nursing staff to
ensure good patient care is effected and in doing so
improve their own rapport and communication, both
with patients and with nursing staff

20. IPE in Flinders NTMP
Year 3
• Students undertake a range of teaching and
placement experiences delivered by
educators from IP backgrounds
– Hospital & CBME rotations
– including nursing, allied health and Aboriginal
Health practitioners
– E.g., asthma educators, diabetes educators,
midwives, family planning, nutrition, palliative
care, wound care, audiology, Aboriginal health

21. IPE in Flinders NTMP
• Alice Springs (Year 3)
– Pharmacotherapeutics short course delivered to
LIFT medical students and remote area nurses
by pharmacist (CDU)
– Fracture management and plastering workshop
for remote area nurses
– Suturing workshop for remote area nurses
– Framing Indigenous Health
• 1 week intensive run for nurses, doctors, allied health,
and medical students who are on long placement

22. Future IPE Ideas for NTMP
Year 1 & 2
• Anatomy peer teaching for CDU nursing students
performed by NTMP medical students
• Support from PVC of CDU Engineering, Health
sciences & environment
Year 2 (ICP?) Year 3
• Deteriorating Patient simulation model run in
Darwin at new simulations lab for NTMP students
and CDU nurses
• Professor Hugh Grantham (Prof of Paramedics)

23. Future IPE Ideas for NTMP
Year 3
• Palliative Care PBLs with NTMP students,
CDU nurses and pharmacy students
– Scripted scenarios with ethical implications including role
playing and possible inclusion of standardised patients
– Include Indigenous health scenarios (could use ALO or
AHP’s graduates and students from Batchelor Institute)
– Input from Medical ethicists (A/Prof David Hunter) and
Palliative care staff (nurses & clinicians). End of life
scenarios. Ethical & legal implications. NT context.

24. Future IPE Ideas for NTMP
Year 3
• Palliative Care PBLs
– Potential input from med students who have an
IPE health background (nurses, physio’s, OT etc)
– Issues
• RDH Palliative care team is small and may be difficult to
access

25. Future IPE Ideas for NTMP
Year 3
• Palliative Care PBLs
– Should we re-invent the wheel?
– National Curriculum for Palliative Care
• PCC4U (Palliative Care curriculum for Undergraduates)
• Funded by Australian Government Dep Health and
Ageing
• Participants include UQ, QUT, Flinders, CDU, Curtin
• Comprehensive eLearning modules & focus topics
– Video scenarios including Indigenous patient

26. Future IPE Ideas for NTMP
• Need to contextualise IPE activities for
the NT (rural, remote & indigenous)
• IPE Communication Role plays
– Scripted role plays centred around phone
consultations in a remote setting
– interchanging roles between nursing
students and medical students
– Trialled in Alice Springs

27. Future IPE Ideas for NTMP
• Advanced Studies
– Coursework option (CRH Modules)
– Potential for Advanced Studies course
work to provide interdisciplinary learning
opportunities as the Centre for Remote
Health (CRH) Remote and Indigenous
Health modules have nursing and allied
health streams.

28. Limitations
• Funding
– PRCC has dedicated Government funding, other
sites do not
– Where will the money come from for IPE at other
sites?
• Year 3 Curriculum is in process of change
– New structure currently being finalised
– Year 3 curriculum currently full with little room
– IPE is on a long list of “things to do” with other
things prioritised ahead of it

29. Limitations
• Site Specific Needs
– The many sites where the MD is run may
need it’s own contextualised IPE activities
– More work for each site to create activities
– Need to work closely with the Flinders Year
3 team to identify what aspects we can
introduce across all sites and what
activities need to be contextualised

30. Audience
Comments
& Other Ideas