The benefits of interprofessional education 10 years on

Interprofessional education (IPE) was first conceived in 1973 from an expert group in Geneva by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO member states were at the time charged with implementing medical education IPE pilot projects following this and from then to today there has a been a rapid proliferation in the number of publications on the subject. IPE has generated research into its use, conferences specific to IPE, organisations dedicated to it and policy championing it. The authors question whether there has been any major shift in the silos different professions might be working in. The authors published an article on the bene ts of IPE (Illingworth and Chelvanayagam, 2007). Ten years have now passed and many changes have been implemented and experienced in health and social care and therefore a review of the literature is required. Also, it is 7 years since the publication of WHO’s report outlining the role of IPE in the preparation of health professionals (WHO, 2010) and increasingly UK Government policy champions collaborative and integrated working. The conclusions from the 2007 article acknowledged the development of IPE, however it highlighted the need for empirical evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of IPE in service user and carer outcomes. This article will explore whether IPE has achieved the benefits discussed in the previous article and what developments have occurred since it was published.