Application of constructivism and cognitive flexibility theory to build a Comprehensive, Integrated, Multimodal Interprofessional Education and Practice (CIM-IPEP) program

Abstract

ABSTRACT Interprofessional Education (IPE) is challenging to implement and assess due to barriers preventing interprofessional communication, inadequately defined accreditation criteria, ambiguous professional roles and responsibilities, and the inherently “ill-structured” educational construct of IPE. To address these gaps, a novel comprehensive, integrated, and multimodal interprofessional education and practice (CIM-IPEP) curriculum involving students from pharmacy, medicine, psychology, and nursing professional degree programmes was created. CIM-IPEP was carefully designed based on cognitive flexibility theory (CFT) to reinforce the complexities associated with teaching and learning for multi-faceted and dynamic domains such as IPE. CFT emphasises pluralistic representation, repetition, and cognitive layering in experiential learning for ill-structured domains. Thus, CIM-IPEP was vertically and horizontally aligned within individual colleges and included diverse IPE experiences in required courses such as Foundations of IPE, and high-fidelity simulation events, culminating in an IPE-Hotspotting elective, which exposed learners to real-world patient cases. Cases were presented in a format of increasing complexity emphasising the integration of foundational and skills-based learning using constructivist methods such as Team-Based and Case-Based Learning. CIM-IPEP offers a novel IPE model. Here we present a stepwise development and implementation blueprint for similar IPE programmes that is readily transferable to other health profession education (HPE) programmes.