"Oh why didn't I take more notice?" Professionals' views and perceptions of pre-qualifying preparation for interprofessional working in practice.

It is widely assumed that interprofessional learning (IPL) impacts positively on interprofessional working (IPW) in health and social care. However, there is no clear evidence that pre-qualifying IPL improves service delivery. The direct effect of pre-qualifying IPL on IPW and service delivery is difficult to demonstrate; researchers must rely on professionals' self-report in this regard.

How midwives' discursive practices contribute to the maintenance of the status quo in English maternity care.

Background: poor relationships between maternity care professionals still contribute to poor outcomes for childbearing women, although issues concerning power, gender, professionalism and the medicalisation of birth have been identified and discussed as germane to this situation for nearly three decades. Although power relationships and communication issues are known to affect the way maternity care professionals in the UK work together, there has been no study of the interplay between these factors, or of how semiotic aspects of professionals' communication relate to it.

Aim: to explore how National Health Service midwives' discursive practices relate to the status quo; that is, how they contribute either to maintaining or challenging traditional discourses concerning power, gender, professionalism and the medicalisation of birth.

From students to professionals: results of a longitudinal study of attitudes to pre-qualifying collaborative learning and working in health and social care in the United Kingdom.

During a longitudinal evaluation of a pre-qualifying interprofessional curriculum, health and social care students completed questionnaires concerning communication and teamwork skills and interprofessional learning and working. Data were collected on entry to their educational programme, during the second year of study, at qualification and after 9-12 months' qualified practice. This paper presents results from practice data from 414 professionals; 275 were educated on the interprofessional curriculum, 139 on previous uniprofessional curricula.

Online interprofessional learning: the student experience.

Health and social care students in a faculty in the United Kingdom learn together in an interprofessional module through online discussion boards. The module assessment encourages engagement with technology and with group members through peer review. An evaluation of student experience of the module gathered data from 48 students participating in 10 online groups.

A comparison of interprofessional perceptions and working relationships among health and social care students: the results of a 3-year intervention.

A longitudinal quantitative study in an English faculty of health and social care explored the effects of a pre-qualifying interprofessional curriculum for students from 10 professional programmes. Students on the interprofessional curriculum completed questionnaires containing four attitude scales on entry to the faculty, during their second year and at the end of their final year. At qualification, 581 students (76.

Career choices in health care: is nursing a special case? A content analysis of survey data.

Background: As demand for nurses and other health professionals continues to outstrip supply it is important to understand what motivates individuals to join a non-medical health profession.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate students' reasons for choosing a particular nursing specialism, midwifery or other non-medical health profession, and to compare motivation factors across professions, gender, age, level of award, prior qualifications, prior experience and over time.

Design: A prospective follow-up study collected survey responses at the beginning and end of pre-qualifying professional programmes.

Nurse leadership, interprofessionalism and the modernization agenda.

As part of the drive to deliver effective health and social care, the Government's modernization agenda focuses on strengthening nursing leadership and developing interprofessional collaboration. Senior nurses are well placed to promote the latter by supporting substantive change in NHS culture. Findings from a research study, conducted by the Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of the West of England, Bristol, as part of a research programme evaluating its interprofessional curriculum, have highlighted senior nurses' potential contribution to implementing and maintaining effective interprofessional collaboration.

Collaborative learning for collaborative working? Initial findings from a longitudinal study of health and social care students.

This paper presents the initial findings from a longitudinal quantitative study of two cohorts of students who entered the 10 pre-qualifying programmes of the Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, UK. The overall aim of the study is to explore students' attitudes to collaborative learning and collaborative working, both before and after qualification. On entry to the faculty, 852 students from all 10 programmes completed the UWE Entry Level Interprofessional Questionnaire, which gathered baseline data concerning their self-assessment of communication and teamwork skills, and their attitudes towards interprofessional learning and interprofessional interaction.