Interprofessional Education in Healthcare
On Tuesday, February 16th, Dr. Nena Sanders, Vice Provost for the College of Health Sciences at Samford University, kicked-off the spring semester Distinguished Lecture Series by touching on the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) in the healthcare field. She began by having the students think about what going on a dream vacation entails; where are we going? what do you need to pack? how are we going to get there? are we there yet? “You have to know where you’re going in order to get there, so why are we going?” she said.
In order to increase patient outcomes, quality and safety, to decrease costs, to improve the shortage of health care providers, to create changes in financial issues and reimbursement, to integrate health care delivery models, and to increase utilization of non-physician providers, interprofessional education is vital.
The IPE journey began when the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) published the report Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality in 2003. This was truly where the idea of IPE was born and when professionals noticed how impactful this could be. Interprofessional education leads to collaborative practice which leads to improved health outcomes.The IPEC reports 4 competency domains: value and ethics, roles and responsibilities, interprofessional teamwork and team-based care, and interprofessional communication practices.
There are three stages of competency development. The first one is exposure, which is the introductory step. The second one is immersion, this is the development and growth stage. The third one is competence, this step is the ‘entry-to-practice’ stage.
As we kept learning about what it will take to reach this IPE journey, Dr. Sanders asked a good question: “What should we pack?”
The first thing is administrative vision and support, followed by IPE training and professional development. Another important thing is faculty buy-in and faculty workgroups charged with developing the vision and mission, core curriculum, and expected student and faculty competencies. Lastly, common IPE framework, a curriculum reflecting integrated healthcare disciplines, and facilities that foster a collaborative environment.
IPE is when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. IPE is a necessary step in preparing a collaborative “practice-ready” health workforce that is better prepared to respond to local health needs. Collaborative practice occurs when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds provide comprehensive services by working with patients, their families, caretakers and communities to deliver the highest quality of care across settings. This also allows health workers to engage any individual whose skills can help achieve local health goals.
“How are we going to achieve this? You. You’re going to learn differently, you’re going to practice differently and you’re going to have a different sense of accountability about caring for those individuals. For the first time in healthcare, we can redefine outcomes for patients, and make their lives better,” she said.
What a great and inspiring lecture to kick-off the spring semester. Thank you, Dr. Sanders!
Maria Perez, Health Science Pre-Med
Student Blogger
College of Health Science