Students’ perceptions of interprofessional education and collaborative practice: analysis of freehand drawings

There is a global shortage of healthcare professionals, but in the social economic environment of Africa workforce numbers are lower than the global average per head of population. It is argued that interprofessional and collaborative care may offer a solution to this problem, and therefore interprofessional education has become a requirement for accreditation. This paper reports on an innovative initiative of a South African university, which implemented four two-hour education sessions of which the two middle sessions were simulated with standardised patients. The 28 interprofessional student groups each created a freehand drawing of their perception of collaborative practice during the fourth and final session. Four out of the 28 images were randomly selected and analysed according to specified steps by three researchers using qualitative methods. Seven themes emerged, which identify the characteristics and principles of collaborative practice and suggest that culture plays an important role. The findings also reveal the tensions arising from the difficult and uphill battle to attain collaborative practice due to silo based training models, multidisciplinary care, and fragmented healthcare services. Educational planners may need to consider the challenges of implementation of the theory of IPE into the real world of practice as well as how to overcome the hidden cultural issues that may impede success.