Regulatory frameworks around the world mandate that health and social care professional education programs graduate practitioners who have the competence and capability to practice effectively in interprofessional collaborative teams. Academic institutions are responding by offering interprofessional education (IPE); however, there is as yet no consensus regarding optimal strategies for the assessment of interprofessional learning (IPL). The Program Committee for the 17th Ottawa Conference in Perth, Australia in March, 2016, invited IPE champions to debate and discuss the current status of the assessment of IPL. A draft statement from this workshop was further discussed at the global All Together Better Health VIII conference in Oxford, UK in September, 2016. The outcomes of these deliberations and a final round of electronic consultation informed the work of a core group of international IPE leaders to develop this document. The consensus statement we present here is the result of the synthesized views of experts and global colleagues. It outlines the challenges and difficulties but endorses a set of desired learning outcome categories and methods of assessment that can be adapted to individual contexts and resources. The points of consensus focus on pre-qualification (pre-licensure) health professional students but may be transferable into post-qualification arenas.

Designing a team-based patient safety event to take place towards the end of medical education can enable students to assimilate all aspects of their curriculum relevant to safety. The link between team factors and the safety agenda is increased when students learn interprofessionally.

The study aims to evaluate an interprofessional community-based learning event, focussing on disability. The learning opportunity was based on the Leicester Model of Interprofessional Education, organised around the experiences and perceptions of service users and their carers. Programme participants were drawn from medicine and social work education in Leicester, UK, bringing together diverse traditions in the care of people with disabilities. Small student groups (3-4 students) worked from one of the eight community rehabilitation hospitals through a programme of contact with people with disabilities in hospital, at home or in other community settings. The evaluation, in March 2005, used a mixed methods approach, incorporating questionnaire surveys, focus group interviews with students and feedback from service users. Responses were collated and analysed using quantitative and qualitative measures. Fifty social work and 100 medical students completed the first combined delivery of the module. The findings indicated that the merging of social work and medical perspectives appear to create some tensions, although overall the student experience was found to be beneficial. Service users (16 responses) valued the process. They were not concerned at the prospect of meeting a number of students at home or elsewhere and were pleased to think of themselves as educators. Problems and obstacles still anticipated include changing the mindset of clinicians and practising social workers to enable them to support students from each other's disciplines in practice learning. The generally positive outcomes highlight that disability focussed joint learning offers a meaningful platform for interprofessional education in a practice environment.

To achieve effective interprofessional learning there must be effective teaching. In this study we analyse the impact of a Masters level two day course designed to prepare teachers for their role(s) in the design development and facilitation of interprofessional student groups. Since its inception the course has run periodically each year attracting over 70 health and social care teachers from academic and practice settings. The evaluation has confirmed the original hypothesis of the course design, that in order to properly facilitate interprofessional education, teachers need tailored professional developmental opportunities. They need to consider both the underpinnings and implications of interprofessionality and the ways in which appropriate pedagogical practice can illuminate and embed truly interprofessional learning.

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