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In the spring of 2018, Abilene Christian University’s College of Education and Human Services created a task force to explore opportunities for an integrated program of interprofessional education through both curriculum and experiential learning. In the fall of 2019, the program was launched with a shared case study assignment and simulation across 13 courses from all five departments within the college and the School of Nursing, allowing students to develop important interdisciplinary practice skills. Over 400 students were involved in the experiential learning activity across two years. In the spring of 2020, the program launched three interdisciplinary courses, focused on developing interdisciplinary skills and knowledge in the areas of ethics, vocation, and practice skills through further simulation. In this chapter, the authors will describe the development, implementation, and outcomes of this innovative curriculum, along with the challenges and benefits of implementing an innovative curriculum across a college. Challenges discussed will include consideration of traditional higher education structures and the need for flexibility and adjustment to allow for innovation.

The purpose of this chapter is to focus on increasing the participation of students with language-based learning disabilities (LLD) in postsecondary transition planning and how the interprofessional teams that include a speech-language pathologist may work together to integrate and apply language, literacy, and related self-determinism goals in the secondary school curriculum. As students with LLD enter secondary school, the provision of needed language-literacy intervention services drastically declines, although these students often require these services to facilitate their postsecondary success. Secondary students are expected to read, write, and think at more complex levels than ever before to meet postgraduation workforce demands. The inclusion of self-determination strategies is found to be related to positive post-school outcomes and can be readily integrated into transition planning. The integration of SLPs into the interprofessional team may ideally support secondary school student language-literacy needs in transition planning by using self-determination strategies to help access the curriculum and experience postsecondary success.

This reflective chapter examines recent trends in social work–public library partnerships. The chapter begins by framing interprofessional collaboration between social work and public libraries as a vehicle for the collective impact that can create lasting and sustainable change in communities. Next in the chapter is an overview of the current state of public libraries’ capacity to support individuals in crisis through community partnerships. Next is a description on how interprofessional collaboration can support public libraries in general and the importance of collaboration with social work more specifically. A presentation of the existing models of public library–social work partnerships and their impact on the role of public libraries in their communities follows, with a discussion of the services provided by public libraries, and how partnerships might change the nature of social work practice. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the barriers and challenges to these partnerships with an eye toward the future of such partnerships and developing their capacity to enhance the health and wellbeing of their patrons, and the safety and resilience of their cities and communities.

This chapter describes the development and evaluation of an interdisciplinary group-based inquiry-based learning (IBL) project across two professional degree programmes in Scotland – educational psychology and social work. After outlining the policy and practice contexts for interdisciplinary inquiry-based learning, we articulate how IBL can facilitate professional identity development, mirror key aspects of professional practice such as interprofessional collaboration, and provide deep interdisciplinary learning. It is argued that the process of IBL provides an authentic and complex practice scenario which allows for the articulation and development of professional knowledge, values, identities and roles in collaboration with another professional grouping. The process of IBL development is described and we report on the results of a small-scale qualitative evaluation of the short-term outcomes of the IBL approach to teaching and learning. The IBL activity enhanced students’ appreciation of interdisciplinary collaboration and allowed them to practice relevant skills. The views and reflections of students are reported and reinforce the relevance and efficacy of the approach. The chapter concludes with a series of suggestions and advice for the replication of using IBL as a tool to enhance and facilitate interdisciplinary learning.

This chapter advances understanding of how professional expertise is enacted and created to accomplish routines in the context of technology-mediated work. Information and communication technologies broaden the participation of professionals with various specialist skills and expertise to accomplish work together, which is particularly salient in health care. Broadening participation, however, creates jurisdictional conflict among professionals. Thus, a key challenge of interprofessional work is the need to mutually adapt established professional routines and overcome jurisdictional conflict to perform interdependent routine tasks. The authors examine how professionals adapt established routines by analyzing the new interactions and interdependent actions required to accomplish technology-mediated geriatric consultation routines. The findings of this study show that professionals create new patterns of actions that are shaped by relational forms of professional expertise, namely selective and blending expertise. The findings and theoretical insights contribute to the literature on routine dynamics by highlighting the importance of relational expertise, and showing how it can transform and destabilize otherwise established professional routines.

This chapter examines group communication in medical teams through psychological safety and simulation training research. Research has shown that medical teams are challenged by established hierarchies, power/status differences, temporal stability, changing team memberships, and deeply held beliefs that emphasize individual responsibility. A review of 47 studies (29 psychological safety, 18 simulation) was conducted to understand key findings in relationship to group communication. Results indicate that team leadership promotes team psychological safety, voice, and relationship quality while status differences and hierarchy continue to affect psychological safety within medical teams. Simulation training facilitated interprofessional relationships, attitudes toward teamwork, self-efficacy, and group communication. The findings of this review suggest that psychological safety may be developed through simulation training. The quality of patient care is improved when all members of medical teams have the ability and motivation to communicate effectively.

In 2004, the Faculty of Health Sciences at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, introduced a new, final-year subject ‘Interdisciplinary Professional Practice’. The subject is taught to all students enrolled in the 11 allied health and human service disciplines at La Trobe University across metropolitan and rural campuses. The delivery is online to overcome timetabling barriers and to provide time and geographic flexibility. The subject is presented using an enquiry-based learning model. Students are exposed to the concepts of interdisciplinary teamwork through shared learning across professional boundaries to enable a collaborative workforce. An outline of the background development and design of this subject, and its implementation and content areas is presented. A discussion of relevant literature and an analysis of the subject evaluations and focus groups that have guided subject development to enhance student learning over eight cohorts is included.