Interprofessional education is taking root in increasing numbers of countries and fields of practice. Encouraging though that is, its essence becomes correspondingly harder to capture. Different health and social care policies, priorities and practices carry different implications for objectives, content and learning methods compounded by lack of a unifying rationale, a fragmented (some may say fragile) evidence base and a seemingly perverse insistence on employing terminology in bewildering disarray.

Much, however, is being done to establish interprofessional education as a coherent and cohesive movement worldwide as this chapter explains. Terminology is being clarified. Principles are being enunciated. Types of interprofessional education are being distinguished. Theoretical perspectives are being compared. Evidence is being assembled. Communications channels are being opened and mutual support networks established.

Setting the agenda

Credit for promoting interprofessional education globally goes to a World Health Organization Working Group meeting in Geneva (World Health Organization, 1988), which advocated shared learning to complement profession-specific programmes. Students, said its members, should learn together during certain periods of their education, to acquire the skills necessary to solve the priority problems of individuals and communities known to be particularly amenable to teamwork. Emphasis should be put on learning how to interact with one another, on community orientation to ensure relevance to the health needs of people and team competence.

The WHO Group was influenced by a previous WHO European Regional Working Group which had met in Copenhagen.