Joint Training for Integrated Care

Abstract

It is recognised that the starting point for the design of professional education and training should be the skills required for practice. Although this is apparently self-evident, it is only relatively recently that competency-based approaches have been espoused as the means by which to ensure these skills are developed. This chapter discusses the integration of two professional training programmes and their respective competencies to develop a new ‘joint practitioner’ in learning disability nursing and social work. The emerging practitioners have been shown to:

• • possess enhanced skills in inter-professional working and collaboration

• • have a breadth of knowledge and networks which can be employed in their work with people with learning disabilities

• • bring an extra dimension to their work when employed in either nursing or social work

• • be aware of different professional cultures and perspectives and be able to work across professional boundaries