Interprofessional education (IPE) is critical for preparing students to enter the health workforce. International organisations promote IPE to support increasing pressure on healthcare systems, limited financial resources, and improve quality of care and health outcomes. In 2021 two pharmacists with research experience (RE) developed a model to support pharmacist’s supervising medical student research projects. The pilot identified university requirements, student research skills, supervisor requirements, and training gaps. The RE pharmacists utilised learnings to develop a train the trainer approach for ongoing IPE research. In 2022, six pharmacists with varying research experience, undertook the education facilitated by the RE pharmacists to become supervisors. Six medical students conducted Quality Use of Medicine (QUM) research self-selected from assorted developed research questions. A multimodal evaluation of IPE collaboration was conducted; a survey of supervisor experience, student university outcomes, and ongoing commitment for continued collaboration.
The IPE research partnership with pharmacists supervising medical students has now entered its 5th year. Each year at least one new pharmacist supervisor has undertaken the supervisor training, contributing to the research capacity and experience within the organisation. All medical students successfully met university requirements, passing the compulsory research module within the Doctor of Medicine program. All projects provided evidence against the Australian Accreditation Standards.