Interprofessional Education and Practice Guide No. 1: Developing faculty to effectively facilitate interprofessional education

Abstract

With the growth of interprofessional education (IPE) and practice in health professional schools, faculty members are being asked to assume new roles in leading or delivering interprofessional curriculum. Many existing faculty members feel ill-prepared to face the challenges of this curricular innovation. From 2012–2013, University of Missouri – Columbia and University of Washington partnered with six additional academic health centers to pilot a faculty development course to prepare faculty leaders for IPE. Using a variety of techniques, including didactic teaching, small group exercises, immersion participation in interprofessional education, local implementation of new IPE projects, and peer learning, the program positioned each site to successfully introduce an interprofessional innovation. Participating faculty confirmed the value of the program, and suggested that more widespread similar efforts were worthwhile. This guide briefly describes this faculty development program and identifies key lessons learned from the initiative. Peer learning arising from a faculty development community, adaptation of curricula to fit local context, experiential learning, and ongoing coaching/mentoring, especially as it related to actual participation in IPE activities, were among the key elements of this successful faculty development activity.

• Faculty development
• interprofessional collaboration
• interprofessional education
• team-based care

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by a generous grant from The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors were responsible for writing and contents of this paper.

Key resources

Academy for Healthcare Improvement has a number of interprofessional curricula available on their website related to the teaching of quality and patient safety, which may be of use to faculty members developing offerings in these areas. These resources can be accessed at: http://www.a4hi.org/education/eduResources.cfm

American Interprofessional Health Collaborative has links to numerous IPE resources on their website, many of which could be useful in faculty development activities: http://www.aihc-us.org/

Canadian Interprofesional Health Collaborative (CIHC) is a not-for-profit organization working to advance interprofessional education in Canada. Their website, which includes an IPE toolkit with numerous resources, can be accessed at: http://www.cihc.ca/

Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) is a UK-based centre that promotes and develops interprofessional education and collaborative practice in universities and the workplace. A variety of interprofession education resources can be accessed the CAIPE website: http://caipe.org.uk/

Interprofessional Education Collaborative – A collaborative of six national education associations of schools of health professions, formed in 2009. They offer the IPEC Institute for faculty development, and have a variety of IPE resources on their website: https://IPEcollaborative.org/About_IPEC.html

MedEdPortal is a well-established compendium of medical curricula, has developed a new repository for interprofessional curricula entitled: iCollaborative. This can be accessed at: https://www.mededportal.org/icollaborative/browse/

National Center for Interprofessional Education and Practice has posted numerous resources related to IPE on their website. The center's site may be accessed at: http://www.ahceducation.umn.edu/national-center-for-interprofessional-practice-and-education/