Using an online case conference to facilitate interprofessional learning

Summary 

Interprofessional learning is seen as increasingly important for all health and social care workers. How this is integrated into the education of these workers is less clear and more of a challenge. This article describes an online learning activity used to facilitate interprofessional learning in a Faculty of Health and Social Care in the UK. An online conference was used to bring students together, utilising a real life case scenario based around a family within a virtual town. Students from a variety of programmes and professional groups participated in an asynchronous discussion forum. The student evaluation of this event was, on the whole, positive and suggests further development of such an approach would address some of the challenges of interprofessional learning.

Keywords: Interprofessional learning, Online conferencing, E-learning, Virtual town