Responding as interprofessional educators to the WHO challenge

Abstract

Abstract The case for interprofessional education (IPE) advanced in successive World Health Organization (WHO) reports may resonate more strongly in developing than developed countries. Claims made that professional education – galvanised by interprofessional learning – may ameliorate the global workforce crisis in healthcare are more compelling in those countries in which health workforce shortages abound than in those in which supply is deemed to be sufficient. Research findings regarding the effects of IPE currently represent no more than the tip of an iceberg. Many IPE initiatives go under-evaluated, under-reported and unbeknownst to national governments on whom the WHO relies to inform its policies. Nor can findings regarding the impact of IPE be transferred uncritically from developed to developing countries without considering differences in context and culture. In this paper we revisit the case made by the WHO, comparing it with available evidence, clarifying concepts, and considering the relative incidence of IPE as reported in developed and developing countries. We review global interprofessional communication channels through conferences, journals and regional arrangements for networking overseen by the World Coordinating Committee. Against that backdrop, we pose questions to interprofessional educators probing some of the practical implications in implementing the WHO propositions.