Types of interprofessional education
activities in the Division of Health Sciences
The Division of Health Sciences has based its description of interprofessional education (IPE) on The University of
British Columbia’s model of interprofessional education (Charles et al., 2010). Key features of this approach are
outlined below:

There are four key stages in development:
o
o
Pre-exposure
Exposure
These activities predominantly sit within the foundation years of each professional programme.
o
o
Engagement - may sit within the foundation years and/or advanced years
Immersion
These activities predominantly sit within the advanced years, when students have developed their
professional identity and clinical expertise

The two stages of pre-exposure and exposure are considered introductory stages where the concept and
principles of interprofessional practice are introduced. As students grow their understanding of their own
profession, they also begin to grow a basic understanding of the different professions and their individual
perspectives.

Pre-exposure and exposure are pre-cursors to engagement and immersion; they lay the foundation for the
transformational learning that occurs during engagement and immersion.

Engagement and immersion activities operate on the assumption that students have a more advanced knowledge
of their individual professions and therefore a greater level of confidence to interact collaboratively.

Students learn more about the strengths and limitations of their own profession through collaboration with other
professions, during the engagement and immersion stages.
The type and complexity of IPE activity increases as the student progresses through their professional programme:
Types of IPE activities; Published 10 November 2015, due for review November 2016
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Pre-exposure
Students experience opportunistic introduction to other professions.
Examples:
 Students from different professions attending the same lecture together (e.g. Physiology shared lectures)
 A guest lecturer teaching another profession’s students
Exposure
Students experience interprofessional learning with a stated IPE intent, even though the learning may also be
opportunistic. This gives students an opportunity to learn that each profession brings different perspectives and
experience to a situation.
Examples:
 Physiotherapy students observing Dental students in action and vice versa
 A Medical student buddying with a Nurse (or any student buddying with another profession as part of their study)
 Opportunistic interactions (with no shared outcomes or assessments) between students on coincidental clinical
placement at the same time
 Combined inductions (as currently happens at the Wellington campus), where students from different professions
participate in the same induction activities together
Engagement
Students participate in activities where there are specific interprofessional learning objectives, action, shared learning
and assessment.
Examples:
 Physiotherapy shared exercise class
 Some aspects of the medical Rural Immersion Programme
Immersion
Students work collaboratively in a practical/workplace setting.
Examples:
 Wellington Interprofessional Training Initiative (WITI)
 Tairāwhiti Interprofessional Education
 InterACT programme, Timaru
 Dunedin Pacific Health Day
Some of our immersion activities are profiled on our IPE webpages: www.otago.ac.nz/healthsciences/ipe (IPE at Otago)
For more information, go to:
Types of IPE activities; Published 10 November 2015, due for review November 2016
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