Interprofessional Education Curriculum Research Articles

The Importance of Interprofessional Education in Developing Collaboration-Ready Biomedical Scientists For Translational Research

The biomedical sciences have advocated for interdisciplinary training to bridge the bench-to-bedside gap and strengthen translational research outcomes. As a functional extension of interdisciplinary collaboration, interprofessional education (IPE) represents a viable solution to strengthen collaborative relationships among basic science researchers and other health professional students at a very early stage in their academic journey in order to benefit patient-centered care. To support this direction, we developed a two-year longitudinal IPE curriculum at our institution (6 schools and 19 programs) termed TEAM UPTM. The focus of TEAM UPTM Year 1 includes building an interprofessional team while developing effective communication and collaboration skills. Case-based activities and a Health Partner Project are the main learning activities during the year. The Health Partner Project connects each diverse student team with an individual in the community to learn about the Health Partner's lived experiences and health-related goals. For the purposes of this report, we evaluated post-Year 1 individual perceptions and reflection assignments. The past 5 cohorts (2018-2022) have included a total of 42 biomedical sciences students (2018=10; 2019=11; 2020=10; 2021=8; 2022=3). After the final Year 1 session, students were asked to complete two assignments: a quantitative IPE perceptions survey and a written reflection focused on their interprofessional growth over the past academic year. IPE perceptions were measured using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised Instrument, Version 2 (SPICE-R2) and examined retrospectively. We hypothesized that student SPICE-R2 scores would increase following participation in the TEAM UPTM curriculum. Indeed, when data are pooled across all five years, students exhibited a significant increase in total SPICE-R2 scores (p<0.001 by paired Student’s t-test). SPICE-R2 subscores were also analyzed separately, representing IPE attitudes related to (A) Teamwork, (B) Roles & Responsibilities, and (C) Patient Outcomes. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA analysis of score changes discovered a significant main effect of subscore category (p<0.001), with subsequent Bonferroni post hoc analyses revealing greater changes in the Roles & Responsibilities subscore (p<0.001) relative to the Teamwork and Patient Outcomes subscores. Student reflections were also analyzed using a qualitative approach, indicating a greater appreciation of communication skills as applied to decision-making and belief that building relationships with health providers would allow for better translational research. These findings highlight IPE as an innovative strategy to support collaborative mindsets and bidirectional relationships between biomedical science researchers and health providers at an early educational stage. P60AA009803. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Interprofessional education: Building social capital among faculty. Are we there yet?

Introduction: Interprofessional education (IPE) is advocated by governments, health professional bodies and universities as key to health professional education and improvement in patient safety. Although many universities have implemented scaffolded IPE curricular models across multiple disciplines, few have reported on faculty perception of this approach. This study sought to explore faculty perception in response to a new IPE curriculum model using the theoretical lens of social capital theory. Methods: In 2021, 24 key University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health (FMH) academics (from nursing, medical imaging, pharmacy, oral health, dentistry, applied science, health science, dietetics, medical science and occupational therapy) involved in the delivery of IPE were invited to participate in individual interviews. Using the conceptual lens of social capital theory, framework analysis was used to categorise themes in the data. Results: In total, 46% (n = 11) of invited FMH faculty were interviewed. Positive elements to the implementation of the curriculum model included a feeling of connectedness, recognition of a scaffolded approach to IPE integrated in existing coursework and growing interest of early career academics in IPE. However, a number of challenges were revealed, including structural barriers in course design, timetabling, misunderstanding regarding the IPE curricula and inequity in distribution of workload. Conclusion: Social capital theory provided a useful framework to consider the perceived enablers and barriers to the newly established IPE curriculum. Although the findings indicate that faculty felt positive about implementing the IPE curriculum, a number of barriers were identified, highlighting the need for increased faculty training and broader engagement in development of IPE curricula.

Interprofessional education for the next 50 years

Over the past two decades, there have been important changes to interprofessional education in Australia and New Zealand. Interprofessional education has slowly shifted from peripheral, small-scale education activities attended by volunteer students to become an expectation of many health professional courses to meet accreditation requirements and community expectations of a collaborative healthcare system. In Australia, interprofessional education curricula have been facilitated by increased accreditation expectations and a series of national large-scale funded projects. However, despite declarations of intent and direction, strategic implementation of nationwide recommendations has not been achieved. In New Zealand, large-scale funding has not been available to facilitate the implementation of interprofessional education in the professional courses. Instead, interprofessional education initiatives have been driven by a small group of champions. Furthermore, efforts to achieve the World Health Organization’s (2010) vision of interprofessional education across the education spectrum—to ensure the future and current health workforce have the competencies for interprofessional collaboration—have been hampered in our region by the focus on interprofessional education within tertiary education. This paper outlines the transnational status of interprofessional education and the role of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE) and the Australasian Interprofessional Practice and Education Network (AIPPEN) in progress to date. We conclude with several suggestions for future interprofessional education across our two countries.

Development and implementation of a high-fidelity simulation training course for medical and nursing collaboration based on the Fink integrated course design model.

The purpose of this study is to examine the design and implementation of a high-fidelity simulation training course for medical and nursing collaboration, based on the Fink integrated course design model. Additionally, the study aims to validate the teaching effectiveness of the course. Previous empirical studies have highlighted the effectiveness of collaborative healthcare education in institutional teaching and hospital training. However, the development of healthcare collaborative education in China has been slow to develop in China. In recent years, Chinese nursing educators and researchers have shown interest in utilizing high-fidelity simulators for healthcare collaborative education. These simulators help address the limitations of traditional nursing teaching and healthcare separation simulation. Nevertheless, a standardized simulation interprofessional education curriculum is still lacking. Therefore, nursing educators need to develop a standardized high-fidelity simulation training curriculum for healthcare collaboration, guided by established science curriculum development theories. A high-fidelity simulation training course on healthcare collaboration was designed based on the Fink integrated curriculum design model. The course was taught to 14 nursing students and 8 clinical medicine students from March to July 2022. To comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of the healthcare collaboration high-fidelity simulation training course, several assessment tools were used. These included course grades, satisfaction and self-confidence scales, simulation teaching practice scales, healthcare collaboration attitude scales, critical thinking skills scales, and semi-structured interviews. After the course was implemented, students demonstrated high overall scores (79.19 ± 5.12) and reported high satisfaction ratings (4.44 ± 0.37). They also exhibited increased self-confidence (4.16 ± 0.33). Additionally, students evaluated all four dimensions of the course teaching practice scale positively. Furthermore, the study demonstrated significant improvements in various aspects, such as attitudes toward medical and nursing collaboration (t = -7.135, P < 0.01), shared education and teamwork (t = -3.247, P = 0.002), job autonomy for nurses (t = -1.782, P = 0.000), and reduced physician dominance (t = -6.768, P = 0.000). The critical thinking skills of the students showed significant improvement, with higher scores in truth-seeking (t = -3.052, P = 0.004), analytical ability (t = -2.561, P = 0.014), systematic ability (t = -3.491, P = 0.001), self-confidence in critical thinking (t = -4.024, P = 0.000), and curiosity (t = -5.318, P = 0.000) compared to their scores before the course (all P < 0.05). The interviews showed that the course's student-centered approach enabled active learning. Students suggested enhancing teaching cases and allocating more time for reflection and summarization. The study successfully designed a high-fidelity simulation training course for healthcare collaboration by utilizing the Fink integrated curriculum design model. The findings provide valuable insights for the development of standardized curricula and healthcare collaboration education in China. Moreover, the course adheres to best practice principles, fostering improved attitudes toward healthcare collaboration and enhancing students' healthcare collaboration and clinical thinking skills.

A multi-institutional framework for building, sustaining, and evaluating a comprehensive interprofessional education curriculum

IntroductionChallenges in designing institutional interprofessional education (IPE) curricula without an inventory, criterion-based evaluation, or process to categorize and scaffold experiences result in a significant need for models in action. MethodsThis report presents the process, framework, and key insights gained from three institutions’ efforts to develop sustainable, criterion-based interprofessional education curricula. ResultsThe proposed framework was successfully implemented by the three author institutions, with four components to define, build, sustain, and evaluate a comprehensive IPE curriculum. DiscussionThe actionable IPE framework offers a flexible approach applied in the context of one's own institution and may serve as a guiding model for other new, growing, and established IPE programs. ConclusionThe authors encourage other institutions to consider the framework and lessons learned shared in this report to advance the pace and intentionality of their own development, then in turn further contribute their lessons learned through progressively expanding cross-institution collaborations.

Situating Interprofessional Education Curriculum within a Theoretical Framework for Productive Engaged Learning: Integrating Epistemology, Theory, and Competencies

Interprofessional education (IPE) has a longstanding presence in the health and social care (HASC) professions, by which its sustainable implementation in HASC professional education has the potential to effectively prepare HASC professional students for interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP). Implementation of IPE has increased over the last two decades with the emergence of a curriculum guided by constructivist epistemology and learning theories that emphasize demonstrating competence in practice. Nonetheless, since IPE first emerged in the early 1960s, most IPE initiatives have been sporadic and lacked guidance through theoretical underpinnings. This conceptual article first discusses why it is important to have theory drive HASC professional education. Next, it explores what is meant by curriculum, followed by a discussion on the importance of curriculum theory to HASC professional education processes. This article then illustrates the learning theories arising from behaviourist and constructivist epistemologies that inform curriculum theory in the HASC professions, with particular emphasis on how constructivist learning theories inform IPE. Lastly, the article proposes a theoretical framework for productive engaged learning through which IPE opportunities may be grounded, leading to student proficiency in interprofessional professional competencies (knowledge, skills, and dispositions), establishment of professional communities of practice, and eventual improvement of patient/client-oriented outcomes.

Outcomes of an interprofessional peer facilitators program: Building a confident, competent, and collaboration ready healthcare workforce

Peer facilitation during interprofessional simulation-based learning enables students from diverse professions and backgrounds to enrich each other's learning in small groups. Peer facilitators are interprofessional role models and serve to maintain neutrality, listen actively, and respond to group dynamics supporting interprofessional education (IPE). This paper will report the outcomes of an interprofessional peer facilitation program as part of a larger IPE curriculum in a graduate program in the health professions. The authors conducted a mixed methods evaluation of peer facilitators' development measured through a peer facilitator knowledge and self-efficacy tool. Results of qualitative and quantitative data from four years of the program are discussed, documenting the outcomes serving as a peer facilitator has on entry-level health professions learners.

A Case Study of Organizational and Curricular Attributes for Interprofessional Education: A Model for Sustainable Curriculum Delivery

Background: In health and social care (HASC) professional education, interprofessional competencies are optimally developed by engaging in interprofessional education (IPE) activities that are delivered sustainably along a continuum. Ultimately, active engagement in IPE is meant to prepare future practitioners for interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP), which leads to improved patient/client and community-oriented outcomes. Methods and Findings: This qualitative case study explores how four Canadian post-secondary institutions deliver IPE within their HASC professional education programmatic structures. Data were collected from institutional websites, publicly available IPE relevant records and documents, and interviews with coordinators and faculty/facilitators of IPE curriculum. Data were inductively analyzed to generate relevant themes, followed by a deductive analysis guided by the five accreditation standards domains identified in the Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Education (AIPHE) projects. Analyses of the data resulted in five attributes: 1) central administrative unit, 2) longitudinal and integrative program, 3) theoretically informed curriculum design, 4) student-centred pedagogy, and 5) patient/client-oriented approach. Conclusions: Using these attributes and guided by AIPHE’s accreditation standards domains, an organizational-curricular model for sustainable IPE is proposed, through which we assert that IPE reinforced through these organizational and curricular supports reflects successful programming, leading to patient/client-oriented outcomes.

Opportunities to apply systems engineering to healthcare interprofessional education.

In medical settings, interprofessional education (IPE) plays an important role by bringing students from multiple disciplines together to learn how to collaborate effectively and coordinate safe patient care. Yet developing effective IPE is complex, considering that stakeholders from different schools and programs are involved, each with varying curriculum requirements and interests. Given its critical importance and inherent complexity, innovative approaches to address these challenges are needed to effectively develop and sustain effective IPE programs. Systems engineering (SE) combines a lifecycle perspective with established interdisciplinary processes to develop and sustain large complex systems. The need for SE approaches to manage healthcare complexity has been recognized, but the application of SE to IPE programs has been limited. We believe that there is a significant opportunity for IPE programs to benefit from the application of SE. The common themes running through SE and IPE led us to ask if SE can be used to address IPE complexity and achieve desired IPE outcomes. We believe that SE could facilitate further development and sustainability of a recently developed healthcare curriculum. We also propose to use SE to accelerate and manage future IPE curriculum development, while better understanding the states of vital IPE-related components. We discuss a framework that considers transitions of key IPE elements. We believe that use of interdisciplinary SE processes and holistic perspectives and methods such as system thinking will improve the management of system challenges while addressing IPE's inherent complexity and leading to better patient outcomes and more effective interprofessional collaboration.

Preparing students to address the social determinants of health in integrated care settings.

Health professionals are increasingly being called to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) and, to do so effectively, often requires an integrated approach to care. As a result, accreditation standards across multiple professions have emphasised the importance of interprofessional education (IPE). This paper describes large-scale, community-engaged learning that is required annually of students from nursing, pharmacy, public health, and social work. Through a series of asynchronous and synchronous activities that are informed by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative core competencies, students are trained to be SDOH change makers who can readily adopt integrated care service delivery frameworks into their future practice. Approximately 1000 students have participated in this event since the University launched its IPE curriculum in 2017. Student consistently report achievement of the course learning objectives, with 91% of students reporting that the learning activities enhanced their understanding of their professional roles/responsibilities in regards to addressing poverty and food insecurity. Two key lessons learned from these efforts are described, including the benefits of a trauma-informed pedagogical approach and special considerations for large-scale learning.

Evaluating Interprofessional Education Curriculum: Are We Fostering Collaborative Practice Identities?

Evaluating Interprofessional Education Curriculum: Are We Fostering Collaborative Practice Identities?

Assessing the Importance Of Embedded Clinical Experience On Interprofessional Education Curriculum Efficacy

Assessing the Importance Of Embedded Clinical Experience On Interprofessional Education Curriculum Efficacy

Impacts of Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Within a Healthcare Team: a Qualitative Analysis

Background: Spirituality is frequently utilized by patients experiencing cancer and blood disorders to maintain their well-being and cope with their diagnosis. The provision of spiritual care is a critical aspect of whole person care and is associated with increased quality of life and positive coping with pain. Generalist aspects of spiritual care may be provided by any team member trained to do so. The Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum (ISPEC©) is an online program which provides this training.&#x0D; Methods: We utilized ISPEC© for the training of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology team members. From 21 team members who were trained, a convenience sample of 8 participants were interviewed regarding their experience. Using a phenomenological approach for interview and analysis, we explored the experience of interprofessional spiritual care training. Through iterative review of interview transcripts, themes representing the essence of the lived experience were identified. Theme saturation was reached through the interviews of the 8 participants.&#x0D; Results: Three major themes emerged. These themes were (1) Knowledge gained, (2) Barriers to Providing Spiritual Care, and (3) Impact on the Healthcare Team. While the experience of interprofessional spiritual care training mitigated one barrier (lack of training), it also revealed barriers within the standard workflow, which participants became interested in changing. Through education on generalist spiritual care, there were both benefits to patients whose spiritual needs could be better addressed, and an increased understanding of the team member's own spiritual needs.&#x0D; Conclusion: Interprofessional spiritual care education, utilizing ISPEC©, has a strong potential to develop pediatric hematology-oncology team members’ capabilities to attend to the spiritual aspect of whole-person care. In addition to contributing to the well-being of patients, the experience of training in spiritual care also holds benefits to the team members as they are learning to recognize their own spiritual needs and resources.

University teachers’ experience of students interprofessional education: Qualitative contributions from teachers towards a framework

BackgroundHealth and social care professionals need to be equipped to work together. Universities have a duty of care to their students to incorporate interprofessional education into the curricula. Here, we present findings from focus groups to delve deeper into the issues previously identified. MethodThree focus group interviews with teachers were conducted—two in Norway and one in the UK. FindingsWe identified four themes: Organizational commitment. Values related to students’ interprofessional and collaborative practice. Professional identity and commitment to collaborative practice. Challenges with implementing interprofessional education. Discussion and conclusionEducators continue to agree that interprofessional education is important, but the findings highlight the ongoing divide and uncertainty as to what to do and when to equip students for interprofessional collaboration. The educators call for the organization to show commitment and leadership so that stakeholders can come together to develop an Interprofessional education curriculum that students can sign up to. Time is of the essence, and a framework may help us here, especially if we can embrace the concept of social innovation and cocreate.

Leadership behaviours in interprofessional student teamwork

BackgroundEffective leaders support high-quality patient care and improve patient safety by embodying a collective leadership style. Training in leadership skills needs to be integrated longitudinally throughout a clinician’s career. Models of leadership drawn from organisational theories can provide a conceptual framework for cultivating student leadership qualities during teamwork and the evaluation of emergent outcomes. Using the conceptual framework of Situational Leadership Theory, we sought to explore the leadership qualities identified by students of their team members, during a large scale interprofessional learning activity.MethodsIn 2018, 1674 students from 11 health disciplines were required to participate in the “Health Collaboration Challenge” (HCC). The HCC required students to work in small interprofessional teams of five or six students. Following team activities, students were required to provide constructive written feedback to their team members. Peer feedback data were coded and categorised into themes using the conceptual framework of Situational Leadership Theory. Data were then quantified within each theme.ResultsA total of 1282 comments were analysed. The most frequent comments related to ‘delegating’ (456/1282, 36%) and ‘supporting’ (402/1282, 31%). This was followed by comments categorised as ‘directing’ (244/1282, 19%), and ‘coaching’ (180/1282, 14%) leadership styles. Notably, a total of 1112/2597 (43%) of comments were unconstructive. A total of 298 comments provided by students informed their peers of areas for self-improvement. The most frequent comments were recommendations relating to ‘active team member contribution’ (111/298; 37%), followed by ‘communication’ (83/298; 28%), ‘interprofessional practice’ (77/298; 26%), and ‘disciplinary knowledge’ (27/298; 9%).ConclusionAlthough most students demonstrated a reasonable ability to display leadership behaviours appropriate to teamwork, further development is needed through training. Leadership skills are an expectation of health professional graduates, and should be explicitly taught and vertically integrated within interprofessional education curricula. Further research is warranted in how students contribute to and understand the requirements of leadership within interprofessional teams.

THE READINESS FOR INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION IMPLEMENTATION DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN INDONESIA: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Background: The importance of the interprofessional education (IPE) program has been depicted through various forms of the IPE curriculum. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a change in the implementation of IPE; this has caused the method of implementing IPE to change online. This study aims to assess the readiness of three different healthcare professions for implementing IPE using the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS).Methods: The RIPLS survey was completed by 108 medical students, 40 pharmacy students, and 30 nursing students at Universitas Syiah Kuala, Indonesia. The survey was done after the students carried out the online IPE intervention, which was held during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also completed open-ended questions reflecting their attitude towards and experience from the online IPE implementation.Results: There was no significant difference regarding student readiness for interprofessional learning among the three academic disciplines. Generally, as many as 57.9% of students showed a positive perception of IPE. Separate analysis for each study program showed that all of them were in the high range of scores for positive perception. Pharmacy students have the highest positive perception of IPE (60%), while medical and nursing students’ scores were 54.6% and 53.3%, respectively. Qualitative interviews revealed that: 1) the scheduling of IPE implementation was not suitable for the students, 2) the online communication between professions was not as effective as expected challenging, and 3) there was a growing awareness to respect other professions.Conclusion: It can be concluded that conducting the IPE program during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced many obstacles, especially communication. However, it still maintains the main objective of IPE, which is to respect other professions.

Accreditation as a driver of interprofessional education: the Canadian experience

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to (1) explore evidence provided by Canadian health and social care (HASC) academic programs in meeting their profession-specific interprofessional education (IPE)-relevant accreditation standards; (2) share successes, exemplars, and challenges experienced by HASC academic programs in meeting their IPE-relevant accreditation standards; and (3) articulate the impacts of IPE-relevant accreditation standards on enabling interprofessional learning to the global HASC academic community.MethodsProfession-specific (bilingual, if requested) surveys were developed and emailed to the Deans/Academic Program Directors of eligible academic programs with a request to forward to the individual who oversees IPE accreditation. Responses were collated collectively and by profession. Open-ended responses associated with our first objective were deductively categorized to align with the five Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Education (AIPHE) standards domains. Responses to our additional questions associated with our second and third objectives were inductively categorized into themes.Results/discussionOf the 270 HASC academic programs surveyed, 30% (n = 24) partially or completely responded to our questions. Of the 106 IPE-relevant standards where evidence was provided, 62% (n = 66) focused on the Educational Program, 88% of which (n = 58) were either met or partially met, and 47% (n = 31) of which focused on practice-based IPE. Respondents cited various exemplars and challenges in meeting IPE-relevant standards.ConclusionsThe overall sentiment was that IPE accreditation was a significant driver of the IPE curriculum and its continuous improvement. The array of exemplars described in this paper may be of relevance in advancing IPE implementation and accreditation across Canada and perhaps, more importantly, in countries where these processes are yet emerging.

Faculty members’ readiness for interprofessional education

Introduction: Healthcare is a complex system that requires collaboration across health professions. However, a plethora of reports has identified poor communication and collaboration within healthcare teams which could lead to patient safety issues. Interprofessional education (IPE) is an educational strategy to promote communication and collaboration between healthcare professionals. Despite knowing the readiness among students, opinions among faculty members regarding the need for IPE at UPH (Universitas Pelita Harapan) have yet to be examined despite the important roles of both students and faculties in developing an IPE curriculum. This study aimed to investigate the readiness among medical and nursing faculty members in establishing an IPE curriculum at UPH. Methods: This study applied a quantitative study design using the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) by Parsell and Bligh (1999) which was translated to Indonesian and tested for its validity and reliability. The translated RIPLS questionnaire was administered to a total of 60 participants which consisted of 30 nursing and 30 medical faculty members. Subsequently, both descriptive and Mann-Whitney statistical analyses were conducted. Results: Findings revealed a statistically significant difference between the IPE scores (RIPLS) of nursing faculties and medical faculties (U = 652, z = 3.028; p = 0.012, r = 0.390). This demonstrates that the nursing faculty members (Median 4.30) indicated a higher level of readiness or more positive attitude towards IPE compared to the medical faculty members (Median 4.07). Conclusions: This study highlights that faculty members have a positive attitude or readiness toward IPE, with nursing faculties indicating higher levels of readiness than their counterparts in the medical faculty. Further exploration using a qualitative method is also important to understand the faculty members’ readiness for IPE as well as the commitments of faculty members and leadership on delivering IPE.

Healthcare providers readiness to response to Spousal Abuse in Saudi Arabia: survey among medical and dental graduates

Objectives: Under-reporting despite high prevalence of domestic violence (DV) indicates a serious gap in identifying and reporting domestic violence. Therefore this study aims to assess the readiness of health care workers in identifying and handling intimate partner violence. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Domestic Violence Health Care Provider Survey tool among medical and dental interns and residents in Saudi Arabia to assess their readiness to detect, manage and prevent spousal abuse. Results: 221 participants completed the survey; 53.8% of the respondents were interns and 43.4% were residents. The study showed that only 5.9% of respondents have participated in DV courses during their undergraduate years in medical school. 72.8% of doctors either did not know or were not sure of Saudi national policies to manage DV and 86.9% of the health care providers were not aware of the national help line number to report a suspected DV case. Conclusion: Lack of teaching and training sessions on managing domestic violence during the undergraduate years shows that health care professionals are evidently underprepared and calls for an urgent need to introduce an interprofessional education curriculum that trains health care professionals of all concerned specialties at undergraduate level on managing domestic violence. Keywords: Domestic violence. Intimate partner violence, medical education, health care providers

Initial Efforts to Manage IPE during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Reports from the Big Ten Academic Alliance

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic required higher education institutions to quickly transition to a virtual platform. This was challenging for those involved in interprofessional education (IPE), given the goal that students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with one another. The Big Ten IPE Alliance is a subgroup of the larger Big Ten Academic Alliance. The purpose of this paper is to share the collective experiences of multiple large, research intensive universities in addressing the challenge of implementing IPE programs under the conditions established by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: To better understand how the Big Ten schools dealt with the transition to virtual learning for didactic and clinical IPE given the COVID-19 pandemic, a subset of representatives from the Big Ten IPE Alliance met to discuss best practices for virtual learning in the IPE realm. Each participating university completed an electronic 14 question survey related to their IPE curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 thru August 2020 and the responses were analyzed. Results: Four categories were identified as needing to be addressed to develop and implement successful interprofessional didactic and clinical experiences. The categories identified included content/assessment, virtual technologies, faculty and facilitators, and learners. Conclusions/Recommendations: Consider including authentic and innovative mechanisms to deliver IPE experiences that meet the learning needs and accreditation requirements. Interinstitutional collaborations such as within the Big Ten IPE Alliance can be beneficial in assessing current and future best practices in IPE.