Building a statewide consortium to advance interprofessional practice and education: Lessons from the lone star state

Abstract

Founded in 2015, the Texas Interprofessional Education (IPE) Consortium has made significant headway in a relatively short time toward reaching the vision of becoming a state and national model of inter-institutional collaboration around interprofessional education and practice to innovate healthcare education, enhance the patient experience, and improve individual and population health outcomes. The Texas IPE Consortium is a community of practice (CoP) committed to longitudinal and sustainable programming dedicated to curricular development around IPE to improve statewide outcomes for students, faculty, and preceptors. The Texas IPE Consortium exemplifies how collaborative leadership can leverage shared knowledge, best practices, and experiences toward ensuring that learners consistently receive high-quality interprofessional training. Greater alignment and consensus of health professions educational priorities and experiences across a state or region could amplify the power of IPE. By intentionally working together across institutions and community practice agencies, new levels of collaborative performance can be achieved. • Forming a regional consortium centered on interprofessional practice and education. • Methods and lessons learned from building a consortium. • Community of Practice as a foundation for building a consortium.