Launching a new interprofessional education programme in a rural setting: a qualitative study of the first two years

Eileen McKinlay; Melanie Brown; Louise Beckingsale; Fiona Doolan-Noble; Amanda Garnett; Susan Pullon

doi:10.1071/HC24109

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Launching a new interprofessional education programme in a rural setting: a qualitative study of the first two years

Eileen McKinlay

¹ ^* , Melanie Brown

² , Louise Beckingsale ³ , Fiona Doolan-Noble ¹ , Amanda Garnett ¹ , Susan Pullon

¹

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

¹ University of Otago, Centre for Interprofessional Education, 362 Leith Street, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.

² University of Otago Wellington, New Zealand. Email: melanie.brown@otago.ac.nz

³ University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand. Email: louise.beckingsale@otago.ac.nz

^* Correspondence to: eileen.mckinlay@otago.ac.nz

Handling Editor: Tim Stokes

Journal of Primary Health Care https://doi.org/10.1071/HC24109

Submitted: 23 July 2024 Accepted: 22 July 2025 Published: 6 August 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Introduction

Delivery of interprofessional education (IPE) in rural settings can support pre-registration health sciences students to achieve interprofessional collaborative practice (teamwork) competencies. It can also grow the rural workforce with previous students recommending the programme to their peers and some choosing to work in a rural workplace as graduates. Launching and implementing a rural IPE programme in a new location is challenging, even when comparable IPE models exist in other settings.

Aim

We aimed to evaluate the implementation of a new rural IPE programme in Greymouth, New Zealand.

Methods

Qualitative evaluation data were collected through several rounds of interviews during the first 2 years of the programme. The interviews included students, stakeholders (Education Operations Group – the tertiary education providers who sent students, clinical placement providers, community stakeholders), and local programme staff. Focus group and interview data were explored using thematic analysis.

Results

Three themes were identified, each with subthemes: (1) allow sufficient lead-in time, (2) ensure there is time to bed down, and (3) undertake location-specific quality improvement. These themes pointed to aspects that were important when implementing a new IPE programme, particularly to enable development of a local flavour.

Discussion

Rural IPE programmes are complex, expensive to establish, and difficult to sustain, but such programmes may be key to increasing the rural workforce. It is critical to have local staff who can work effectively with all the stakeholder groups, all of whom are important to continuing the programme.

Keywords: evaluation, implementation, interprofessional education, rural, staff, students, sustainable, workforce.

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