Abstract

Background: Studies exploring the role of users in interprofessional education have primarily been with undergraduates (pre-licensure)1,2 with little understanding of postgraduate (post-qualifying). This poster describes an interprofessional quality improvement project around the management of back pain in primary care. Educational content centred on the discipline of improvement knowledge3 and evidence-based back pain knowledge. Method: Users were involved with proposal development, the steering group and participated in eight half-day educational workshops delivered to nine general practices teams (PT) in the UK. The user group met collectively for two hours prior to joining their team for the workshop. IPE involved team work, experiential and didactic learning. Practices gained in-depth understanding of patient’s needs. On-site facilitation occurred between workshops. Focus group interviews with PTs (including users) pre and post-workshops, workshop evaluations and on-line Wiki threads evaluated professional and user perspectives. Results: Many professionals altered views on user involvement. Patients’ influence on learning and improvement projects was seen as very valuable. Data from focus group interviews, Wiki threads and ‘rapid feedback’ workshop evaluations will be used to illuminate professional and user perspectives. Discussion and conclusions: We conclude that meaningful engagement with users and inclusion in interprofessional education was a catalyst for behavioural change and potentially an improvement in patient outcomes4. The presence of users overthrow the inappropriate medical model in favour of a more integrative bio-psychosocial one. We propose that this model has made a contribution to the evidence for user participation in postgraduate IPE and its influence on professional behaviour. References 1. Cooper H., Braye S., Geyer R. Complexity and interprofessional education. Learning in Health and Social Care 2004; 3(4)179–189 2. Daykin, N., Rimmer, J., Turton, P., Evans, S., Sanidas, M., Tritter, J., & Langton. H. (2002) Enhancing user involvement through interprofessional education in healthcare: the case of cancer services. Learning in Health and Social Care 1, 3, 122-131. 3. Batalden P, Davidoff F (2007) Teaching quality improvement: the devil is in the details. JAMA; 298:1059-61 4. Kirkpatrick DL (1994) Evaluating Training Programs: the Four Levels. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehle