Interprofessional education, philosophy and conceptual frameworks

I received a copy of the following - Interprofessional Education in Wales: case studies in health and social care - July 2010, Editors: Clare Kell and Marion Helme (Health Sciences and Practice). Published by the HEA.


As per other HEA publications there are many papers here of great interest. One stood out at a first reading as in addition to the quote below Mark Edward's also refers to the need for an holistic approach, and this particular MSc. course providing a critical space.

UK Professionals are trained and educated in their own disciplines, learning their own unique and specialist knowledge for their chosen profession. Therefore, although each profession is well equipped for its singular contribution, they find their 'educational preparation a total mismatch for the complex, interactive world into which they graduate and practice' (Sullivan, 1998: 428). Sullivan's view reinforces the WLGA's concerns, that professional boundaries *demarcate* social professions (and others) from each other and that resistance to collaboration and co-operation on any meaningful level has been compounded by the historical development of the uni-professional training model. We need therefore to agree a uniting philosophy and *conceptual framework* that facilitates a dialogue between these professional disciplines and gives reasons for these discrete services to work together in providing effective inter-professional solutions to shared social problems. p.53. Edwards, M.L. (2010). * -- * My emphasis.

I do not merely want to hang word associations here on the blog line. But, I have wondered about how we demarcate the disciplines. This is a major question. In the (previous) glossary I cite Resnik (2002) - A pragmatic approach to the Demarcation Problem. Wether deemed explicit or not Hodges' model seems to address this issue through the care domains.

On the new site a living (dynamic - as is implicit in internet based tools and resources) glossary is a must - the terms we use often vary from context to context, professional to professional. Clearly (or opaquely) I cannot provide all the answers hence the need for a community and a (Drupal) module.


Mark L. Edwards, Case Study 7: Issues in collaboration between undergraduate professional qualifying programmes of youth work and social work. pp.47-55.

Resnik, D.B. (2002) A pragmatic approach to the Demarcation Problem, Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci., 31:2,249-267.