Our Educational Strategy

To build a safer and more effective patient-centered and community and population oriented US healthcare system transformation of health professions education to prepare all health professions students to deliberatively work together is essential. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) has developed four core competencies to prepare future health professionals from all health professions for enhanced team-based care of patients and improved population health outcomes. 

These core competencies are consistent with the World Health Organization’s Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, a report that endorses interprofessional education as an effective strategy to develop interprofessional collaborative practitioners to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes.

Interprofessional collaborative practice will contribute to meeting the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim for optimizing health system performance. The goals of the Triple Aim are to:

• Improve the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction);
• Improve the health of populations; and
• Reduce the per capita cost of health care.

Our IPE Curriculum is guided by the following principles. The IPE learning experiences will:

• be designed to develop students who are proficient in the IPEC Core Competencies for Collaborative Practice;
• follow the Exposure - Immersion - Competency IPE Framework;
• develop graduates that meet or exceed profession-specific IPE accreditation criteria; and
• be embedded into existing courses within each professions' curricula.

Students develop their interprofessional collaborative practice skills by progressing through three developmental levels - EXPOSRE - IMMERSION - COMPETENCY.

The EXPOSURE level provides students with an introduction to the principles of interprofessional collaborative practice and is achieved through our Foundations of Interpofessinal Collaborative Practice online learning modules and IP Forums where students engage in small group, patient case-based discussions. Learning activities emphasize interprofessional teamwork skills, knowledge of the scope of practice of other professions, and the impact of culture on healthcare delivery.

The IMMERSION level advances the students' development of interprofessional competencies by providing educational activities in relevant small interprofessional groups.  Students will have opportunities to demonstrate their interprofessional knowledge and skills during activities includeing interprofessional simulation experiences and community-based service learning.

The COMPETENCY level learning activities generally occur in the clinical setting and include continued development of interprofessional communication, teamwork, and leadership skills while working with patients and clients in interprofessional clinical teams.