Position statement GMA Comittee – “Interprofessional Education for the Health Care Professions”

Preface The discussion about new forms of cooperation and competencies in the health professions need not primarily take place from the perspective of the occupational groups, but rather on the basis of future expectations of the healthcare system – meaning from the perspective of the patients [1]. interprofessional education The Committee for Interprofessional Education in the Health Professions was established in 2011 as a subcommittee of the Gesellschaft für medizinische Aus-bildung (GMA) and is composed of German, Austrian and Swiss experts in the fields of medicine, nursing, and the therapeutic and diagnostic health professions. The committee was founded with the task of critically reviewing current Interprofessional Education programs in academia among the health professions and making recommendations for Interprofessional Education in the form of a position statement. This is to provide both theoretical and practical support regarding further developments to integrate interprofessional approaches into education for the health professions. The need to systematically address this topic has arisen from previous observations about the necessity for collaboration between the health professions [2], [3], [4], as well as knowledge gained about the effects of cooperation in terms of all stakeholders: patients , the general population, and members of the health professions. The committee first looked at the initial occupational training in selected health professions 1 (within the Ger-man practice context), which have been undergoing academization in recent years and differ in this respect from the long-established academic field of medicine. The recommendations formulated in this position statement concerning Interprofessional Education are not directed solely at a particular ccupational group, but are intended to address all health professional groups that directly contribute to patient care. Presently, with the exception of medicine, a situation exists in which the majority of initial training programs for the health professions are still embedded in the vocational education system. This starting point has been given special attention by the committee members, particularly in the discussions with representatives from medicine. From the perspective of healthcare policy [5], the current developments towards the academization of health professions also have implications for future educational governance and thus for the future development of healthcare with all professional groups. We wish to extend our gratitude to all the members of the GMA Committee for Interprofessional Education in the Health Professions and to all those who participated in the discussions that took place in various workshops and committee meetings and who provided important stimuli …