EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Interprofessional education: the interface of nursing and social work

Aims. To examine the influence of interdisciplinary seminars on undergraduate nursing and social work students ’ perceptions of their learning. Background. Collaboration is considered to be important for health professionals in working towards good patient care, and interdisciplinary education is seen as one way of addressing this need for greater collaboration and team work. Today’s health professionals are dealing with an increasing number of older and chronically ill patients. The biopsychosocial dimensions inherent in such chronic illnesses bring about a closer working relationship between the nursing and social work professions to foster good patient care. No local research in Hong Kong, however, has looked specifically at how these two professions can develop their collaborative skills and qualities through interdisciplinary education. Design. Mixed methods design. Method. Data from questionnaires, videotape recordings of the sessions and follow-up phone interviews were used for quan-titative and qualitative analyses. Results. The findings revealed three themes: an increased awareness of each other’s professional values and personal judgement, a recognition of each other’s disciplinary knowledge emphases and more, and an appreciation for, and learning about each other’s roles for future collaboration. Conclusions. Whilst, it is usual to identify health professionals as non-judgemental, it is also important to recognise th