Public Health as a Catalyst for Interprofessional Education on a Health Sciences Campus

摘要

Although interprofessional education (IPE) has existed in various formats for several decades, the need for IPE recently has taken on renewed interest and momentum. Public health has a critical role to play in furthering IPE, yet schools of public health are often underrepresented in IPE initiatives. The University of Iowa College of Public Health is serving as a catalyst for IPE activities on our health sciences campus, which includes colleges of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health. IPE-related activities have included campus visit by IPE leaders, administration of the Survey of Critical Elements for Implementing IPE, administration of the Interprofessional Learning Opportunities Inventory survey, the development of a comprehensive strategic plan, and the pilot of an IPE course for all first-year prelicensure students and Master of Health Administration students. Although more work is needed to more fully integrate IPE into the curriculum, success to date of the University of Iowa IPE initiative demonstrates that public health can play a critical role as a convener and catalyst for IPE curricular innovations on a health sciences campus. Although interprofessional education (IPE) has existed in various formats for several decades, the need for IPE recently has taken on renewed interest and momentum. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, with its emphasis on medical homes and accountable care organizations to achieve better outcomes in primary care, especially for those with chronic conditions and at-risk populations, necessitates interprofessional teamwork and team-based care more than ever. In 2009, the 6 national health professions education associations formed the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) with the goal of advancing IPE learning experiences to better prepare students for collaborative and team-based care. In May 2011, an expert panel, appointed by the IPEC, published Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice . 1 The report outlines 4 competency domains (values/ethics for interprofessional practice, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams and teamwork). IPE is defined as the following: When students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. 2 (p10) Public health has a critical role to play in both the implementation of the ACA and in furthering IPE, yet schools of public health are often underrepresented in IPE initiatives. The University of Iowa College of Public Health is serving as a catalyst for IPE activities on our health sciences campus, which includes colleges of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health.