Understanding the processes and the factors influencing intersectoral collaboration is vital for the ongoing success of programmes that rely on effective partnerships between sectors, such as the school-based immunization programme, the school dental health programme and health promotion interventions delivered in school settings. We studied school-based health programmes delivered by partnerships between health, education and the local government sectors. We used purposive sampling to identify 19 people working in school-based health programmes and interviewed them about the barriers and enablers of successful collaboration. Data were analysed thematically. We found that collaboration between complex systems was a skilled endeavour which relied on a strong foundation of communication and interpersonal professional relationships. Understanding the core business, operational context and intersectoral point-of-view of collaborative partners was important both for establishing good intersectoral programmes and sustaining them as contexts and personnel changed. Aligning divergent sectoral agendas early in the collaborative process was essential for ensuring that all partners could meet their core business needs while also delivering the programme outcomes.

Situating peer evaluation within a collegial partnership overcame participants' concerns about being the subject of 'evaluation' and 'criticism' by emphasising existing collegiality and trust amongst peers.

Introduction: Increasingly recognized as a core component of contemporary health profession education, interprofessional learning outcomes remain difficult to define and assess across disciplines. The aim of this study was to identify a single set of interprofessional learning competency statements with relevance to all health professions. Methods and results: Six national and international interprofessional competency frameworks were reviewed and combined to give a total of 165 competency statements. Following a process of mapping and grouping these statements into common content areas, duplicate content was removed. In addition, content deemed as a core competency for one or more individual health professions was removed. A round table of experts reviewed the remaining statements and agreed a final set of eight. Each statement was expressed as a specific learning outcome that could be assessed and which described behaviors and practices that students could routinely expect to engage with, and participate in, during the course of their study. Conclusion: Identifying specific interprofessional competencies that students of all health professions require will enable more effective implementation of interprofessional learning activities and assessment within the core curriculum.

The results of this study have highlighted many of the challenges inherent in the process of lay participation in medical curriculum development. A model is proposed to facilitate and promote lay participation in medical curriculum development.

No abstract