Lecturer is ‘on board’ with interprofessional appointment

Students enrolled on the University’s Interprofessional Education (IPE), ‘collaborative curriculum’ are set to benefit from a lecturer’s appointment to the board of a globally influential charity.

Alison Power is a Senior Lecturer in Midwifery and University of Northampton Faculty of Health, Education and Society’s (FHES) Lead for IPE.

IPE provides students on 16 courses across the Faculty* with multidimensional learning opportunities through a ‘collaborative curriculum’ that sees them learning with, from and about their peers on other professional programmes.

For instance, this gives Midwifery students the chance to learn alongside Paramedic Science students, giving both a greater appreciation of the other’s role, standing them in good stead for working collaboratively after they have graduated.

IPE is one of the key priorities for teaching and learning in the Faculty, with programmes having a shared/common IPE learning outcome in every year.  Alison is supported by colleagues to deliver cross-Faculty synchronous online sessions to develop and consolidate interprofessional awareness and engagement, which is complemented by in-module learning.

Now, Alison has been appointed as a board member at the prestigious, internationally recognised Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE).

Alison is already a member of CAIPE’s student experience research group, but her new role there will involve her in CAIPE’s more strategic role in advising on government and professional policy. She will work on top-level collaborations, such as advising leading policy makers such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and forge closer links with other IPE providers across the globe.

Of her appointment, Alison said: “If we ensure students on health, education and social care programmes have a good understanding of and respect for each other’s roles, they can take this theoretical knowledge and understanding and apply it to practice.  This awareness should foster better teamworking, communication and collaboration which should ultimately positively impact on the quality of care they provide and the service user experience.

“Membership of the CAIPE Board will give me the opportunity to network with IPE colleagues at a national and international level, which I am sure will positively impact on IPE provision at UON.  From September 2021, we will have in excess of 1,200 students engaging with the IPE collaborative curriculum, which will keep me on my toes!  This appointment is an important milestone in our Faculty’s IPE story and I’m very grateful to CAIPE for giving me this very exciting opportunity.”

Richard Pitt, Chair of CAIPE, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Alison to the CAIPE Board this year.  She has worked with CAIPE as a Corporate member with the University of Northampton for many years and we look forward to having her on our board and the contribution she will make to CAIPE from her wealth of interprofessional education and collaborative practice experience.”

*The full list of programmes is:

• BA (Hons) Childhood and Youth
• BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies
• BA (Hons) Social Work
• BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing
• BSc (Hons) Child Nursing/Children and Young Peoples Nursing
• BSc (Hons) Learning Disability Nursing
• BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing
• BSc (Hons) Midwifery
• BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy
• BSc (Hons) Paramedic Science
• BSc (Hons) Podiatry
• FdSc Dental Nursing
• FdSc Health and Social Care
• FdSc Paramedic Science
• FdA Learning and Teaching
• FdSc Nursing Associate
• MSc Physiotherapy (pre-registration)