IPE differs in process and content from traditional continuing education. While traditional continuing education has focused upon the top-down transmission of content, primarily clinical knowledge, from an expert to others with less expertise, IPE has a significant focus on learning “from” and “about” each other (Sargeant, 2009).  

Complexity Theory: Health care is a complex system, and complexity theory refers to how systems and the behavior within the system change and looks at the many dynamic, continuously interacting components. Complexity theory encourages the perspective to look at education differently, moving the focus from the individual professional and how they change and learn in response to education to focus on the health team, health system, and the environment response to education (Sargeant, 2009) .   

Adult Learning Theory & Scaffolding:  Traditionally this has tended to be the most frequently associated theory for interprofessional education (Craddock et al. 2006), and involves the idea that students move through a series of developmental stages until they achieve the ability to engage in transformative learning. Within Adult Learning Theory it is important to create learning opportunities that enable students to be critically reflective, be open to others' perspectives, and be more accepting of new ideas (Hean et al., 2012). 

Reflective Learning: Critically reflecting upon experience appears central to learning, and it is important to "formally incorporate reflection upon what individuals and the group are learning about their colleagues in other professions, and about collaboration and teamwork, into learning activities," (Sargeant, 2009, p182).

Constructivist Learning Theory: Suggests that learners construct their own personal knowledge and representation of the world. This is accomplished via building on past knowledge and experience and incorporating this into new knowledge. Encourages learners to actively participate in learning which is key to successful IPE (Hean et al., 2012).

Social Psychology Theories: Explores the interactions between individuals and the context of their life situations. Of importance to IPE is the concept that situational factors exert significant influence on behaviors, and the social setting of education can impact the learning. Social psychology also suggests that health professionals attending the same educational offering may see it through different professional and individual lenses, and these subjective individual interpretations of the situation are what influences behavior (Sargeant, 2009) . 

"Improved health care through interprofessional collaboration is the overarching goal of interprofessional education (IPE)," (Orchard & Bainbridge, 2016, p526). In order to effectively work in a multidisciplinary care environment there is an inherent need for IPE. 

As we learned from our multidisciplinary section, all members of the team play an integral role in the care of the patient. A removal of any one or more of these members can have a significant negative impact on the care provided. Similarly, a lack of coordination or understanding of others' respective roles and responsibilities can be equally detrimental to care delivery. 

While one discipline of team members has an intimate understanding of its own functions and role, there can be varying levels of knowledge regarding other team members'/disciplines' roles and functions. Through IPE, each group can be provided with purposeful education for skill acquisition and insight into the collaborative practice environment (Spaulding et al., 2021). 

When considering the creation of an IPE activity van Diggele et al., (2021) suggest that "the learning goals of any IPE activity are best drawn from existing interprofessional competency frameworks," (p. 2). Examples of which include the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (2010), and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (2016). 

van Diggele et al., (2021) summarize the core competencies of interprofessional education into these five themes:

1. Roles and responsibilities

2. Ethical practice

3. Conflict resolution

4. Communication

5. Collaboration and teamwork

**One or more of these core themes should be the desired outcome focus when designing an interprofessional learning activity**

While the value of IPE is generally agreed upon how come it is not more widely implemented? 

The major challenge educators and administrators must tackle is the coordination and facilitation of IPE into curriculum; both in educational institutions and in healthcare facilities alike. 

Some of the challenges of IPE are logistical: How do you coordinate and accommodate the number of individuals into classrooms, or concurrent clinical environments? How do you align schedules and timing with various professional teams?

Some of the challenges are cognitive: How do you organize education activities or simulation between all disciplines that incorporates learning opportunities for all disciplines? Or present learning opportunities that align with the respective ethics, scope, and training of each discipline involved? 

Some of the challenges are psychological: How do we cultivate and foster collaborative environments where all individuals feel welcome, valued, and secure enough to participate? How can we reduce threats to professional and social identity while learning in a group?

Other Challenges to IPE (Lateef, 2018)

Cultural: Training the team together may entail a culture shift for the organization/unit, or members of the team.

Resource: There is a paucity of curriculum maps, funding, or shared scenarios that apply to multiple disciplines concurrently.

Regulatory body: Not all regulating bodies recognize, or provide certifications that are transferable across disciplines. Course are often discipline specific in content, delivery and regulation. 

By shifting the focus from professional to interprofessional identity, the process of interprofessional socialization can promote the formation of interprofessional identity and facilitate collaborative attitudes and behaviors among students (He et al., 2024). 

Literature suggests that facilitators/educators are required to adjust their teaching strategies to ensure they interact with and direct student learning from different professions (Ruiz, et al., 2013).

Representatives from the various disciplines should contribute to IPE through joint planning, goal setting, sharing of disciplinary knowledge. This supports the facilitators' depth of disciplinary knowledge of all student learning outcomes, and supports the focus of the education being on interprofessional collaborative outcomes (van Diggele, et al., 2020).

Leader inclusiveness, defined as actions and words of leaders that indicate invitation and appreciation for other's contributions to the team can create psychological safety in the learning environment (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). 

It is believed that placement-based interprofessional learning opportunities are preferable to campus based opportunities as it enables students’ learning to be embedded in a relevant context (Guest et al. 2002). Insitu-simulation is an example of placement-based learning.

In the clinical learning environment, the perception of safety is assessed in the context of the physical and psychological hazards that may be encountered in the learning journey. The physical risks are such hazards that are inherent to normal working environments and likely present similar risks to all individuals in that environment (Carrera et al., 2018). It is the psychologic risks of learning that can be leave learners most vulnerable, and Appelbaum et al. (2018) suggest that a psychologically safe clinical environment has the greatest influence on the learners’ satisfaction with the learning experience. A psychologically safe environment is conceptually described as an inclusive learning environment where individuals feel secure to expose vulnerability, engage in interpersonal risk taking, and contribute perspectives without fear of negative consequences (McClintock, et al., 2022). Interpersonal risk may not be entirely mitigated by psychologically safety, rather it creates a setting where learners feel safe enough to practice new skills without the burden of feeling they will be humiliated, shamed, or belittled. They feel safe enough to embrace being uncomfortable (Rudolph et al., 2014). 

When implementing an IPE initiative it is imperative to establish and reinforce a psychologically safe learning and practice environment. All members, regardless of discipline, must feel welcome, valued, and engaged with the learning goals. "Psychological safety has been demonstrated to be a precursor to learning-oriented behaviors such as asking questions, sharing one's thinking, and asking for help" (Rudolph et al., 2014, p340). 

We encourage you to read about 'Establishing a Safe Container for Learning' from our required reading list.