Global health education programming as a model for inter-institutional collaboration in interprofessional health education

Abstract

While global health (GH) opportunities have expanded at schools of medicine, nursing, and public health, few examples of interprofessional approaches to GH education have been described. The elective GH program at our university serves as an important opportunity for high-quality interprofessional education. We undertook a qualitative study to examine the experience of student, faculty and administrative leaders of the program. We used content analysis to code responses and analyze data. Among the leadership, key themes fell within the categories of interprofessional education, student–faculty collaboration, professional development, and practical considerations for the development of such programs. The principles described could be considered by institutions seeking to develop meaningful partnerships in an effort to develop or refine interprofessional global health education programs.

• Global health education
• institutional partnerships
• interprofessional collaboration
• interprofessional education
• student–faculty collaboration

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the course participants and the Global Health Working Group, as well as the student, faculty and administrative course leaders who completed the questionnaire. We thank Dr Elizabeth Bradley of the Global Health Leadership Institute and Dr Robert Rohrbaugh of the Office of International Medical Student Education for their continued support for the program.