Community-based interprofessional education for medical, nursing and dental students

This paper presents final results from a 15-month project which evaluated t he effectiveness of interprofessional education (IPE) for first and second year medical, nursing and dental students on a community-based placement. T he paper initially discusses the current issues within the IPE literature. It goes on to provide background information of this placement. In presenti ng the project's methodology, the paper describes the use of a 'process-bas ed' approach which tracked the education and social processes connected to IPE. Such an approach has helped overcome some of the problems of using bef ore-and-after designs. Findings from this study are offered in relation to the perspectives of the three participant groups in the placement: students , tutors and service users/carers. The paper goes on to discuss these findi ngs and to draw conclusions for community-based IPE.