Developing effective teamworking skills is an appropriate focus for first-year health professional students. The timing of learning about the roles of different professionals is yet to be resolved.

No abstract

This study sought to determine the attitudes, beliefs and values towards clinical work organization of students entering undergraduate medicine, nursing and pharmacy programmes in order to frame questions for a wider study. In the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland students entering medicine, nursing and pharmacy programmes completed a questionnaire based on that used by Degeling et al. in studies of the professional subcultures working in the health system in Australia, New Zealand, England and elsewhere. Findings indicate that before students commence their education and training medical, nursing and pharmacy students as groups or sub-cultures differ in how they believe clinical work should be organized. Medical students believe that clinical work should be the responsibility of individuals in contrast to nursing students who have a collective view and believe that work should be systemized. Pharmacy students are at a mid-point in this continuum. There are many challenges for undergraduate programmes preparing graduates for modern healthcare practice where the emphasis is on systemized work and team based approaches. These include issues of professional socialization which begins before students enter programmes, selection of students, attitudinal shifts and interprofessional education.

In this environment, 28-day long-acting penicillin prophylaxis for at least 10 years delivered by community nurses is safe and effective for patients with no or mild cardiac disease by auscultation at discharge off penicillin. Penicillin delivery every 21 days (as suggested by a recent Cochrane review) would add to costs and complexity.

In New Zealand there is emphasis on improving access to primary healthcare, particularly for high health need populations such as Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Critical to the development of the primary healthcare environment is building healthcare teams and better utilising health practitioners. This article reports on an interprofessional educational initiative where medical, nursing and pharmacy undergraduates learnt together in order to understand Maori health issues, how these are addressed by health services and also appreciate the contribution of different health professionals within the healthcare team. The educational initiative is described and interprofessional learning issues are explored across the different curricula structures of medicine, nursing and pharmacy.