Using workshops as a tool to deliver interprofessional learning

Workshops are used widely as a tool in both education and industry for brainstorming, problem solving, sharing knowledge, skills and raising awareness of issues. In this international initiative, workshops were chosen as the educational delivery tool for interprofessional learning (IPL) due to their flexible, interactive and collaborative nature. In 2009, Australia and New Zealand were developing the experience and expertise required to facilitate IPL effectively with diverse groups of participants with differing needs. An international collaborative connection was fostered with the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) to access expertise already existing in the UK. This expertise was combined with the developing facilitation skills within Australasia in a series of ten workshops. Over three hundred health and social care practitioners, educators, policy makers and planners participated. The tour was neither funded nor designed as a formal research study. After the tour, feedback was received from institutions and participants on the impact of the tour as a whole and of individual workshops. This feedback indicated that the workshops had acted as a catalyst and impetus for further interprofessional learning and development and collaboration in practice. They had been effective in delivering interprofessional learning.