Definition of Interprofessional Education
Before engaging in the development and implementation of IPE at any institution, it is important to define the elements of IPE. Definitions of IPE are varied and ubiquitous. The Task Force expanded the Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) definition to read as follows:
Interprofessional education involves educators and learners from 2 or more health professions and their foundational disciplines who jointly create and foster a collaborative learning environment. The goal of these efforts is to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that result in interprofessional team behaviors and competence. Ideally, interprofessional education is incorporated throughout the entire curriculum in a vertically and horizontally integrated fashion. It is important to also consider what is not IPE. Examples of what IPE is not include:
Students from different health professions in a classroom receiving the same learning experience without reflective interaction among students from the various professions;
A faculty member from a different profession leading a classroom learning experience without relating how the professions would interact in an interprofessional manner of care; and
Participating in a patient care setting led by an individual from another profession without sharing of decision-making or responsibility for patient care.
The goal of IPE is for students to learn how to function in an interprofessional team and carry this knowledge, skill, and value into their future practice, ultimately providing interprofessional patient care as part of a collaborative team and focused on improving patient outcomes. An interprofessional team is composed of members from different health professions who have specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. The goal of an interprofessional team is to provide patient-centered care in a collaborative manner. The team establishes a common goal and using their individual expertise, works in concert to achieve that patient-centered goal. Team members synthesize their observations and profession-specific expertise to collaborate and communicate as a team for optimal patient care. In this model, joint decision making is valued and each team member is empowered to assume leadership on patient care issues appropriate to their expertise. Health care professionals from different disciplines who conduct individual assessments of a patient and independently develop a treatment plans are not considered an interprofessional team. In this traditional model, the physician typically orders the services and coordinates the care and the lack of collaboration may contribute to an overlap and conflict in care.