Developing interprofessional education in Malta : an exploratory case study

Abstract

Worldwide impetus for Interprofessional education (IPE) has been gaining ground, and in many countries, is well-established in health care curricula. Although collaboration in health care and health care education has been mentioned in various policy documents, IPE as per CAIPE’s (2012) definition is not practised at the University of Malta. This research adopts a qualitative case study approach designed to explore stakeholders’ perspectives of IPE and to encourage debate of adopting such a model of practice at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta. Data were gathered through focus groups and one- to-one interviews with a purposive sample of sixty-four participants. Findings yielded rich insights into participants’ perceptions of IPE; while they lauded the notion in principle, they identified a multiplicity of factors that would pose barriers to its enactment. These included barriers rooted in the practical domain of operational systems of the University as well as symbolic and wider barriers of professional and national cultures. The findings were interpreted through various theoretical perspectives; in so doing this study has initiated debate on the concept of IPE at a local level and has provided deeper understandings into factors that must be taken into consideration before such innovation could be attempted.