If your IPE office or group is lucky enough to have a dedicated space just for IPE could you please tell us what really works in that space?
Also what you wish you had now that you don't? We are creating a plan for the future of our IPE and would like ideas.
I have run or been a participant in several workshops about 'IPE space' - usually starting out from the scenario that anything is possible for a brand new initiative/building. Many people suggest round buildings as a metaphor for inclusivity - though architects stress that such construction is the most expensive. I have also been in discussions about new health professional education buildings which have begun with aspirations towards interprofessional inclusion and then usually been realised in reality as separate floors for each profession. Just thinking of space within 'a medical school' is problematic. To be truly inclusive the space should be labelled without one specific profession in mind. But we are still very much tied to various schools. I would be interested in reading thoughts from others who have been successful in creating optimal learning spaces. Even hospitals and clinics frequently have uniprofessional common rooms...
Thank you for your comments. In the time since I posted the original inquiry almost a year ago now, we have been buidling a new building. Our current Dean was not a part of that buildings original planning but has decided to do a few things that will help IP collbaoration. There will be three programs housed in that building: nursing, physical therapy and physician assistant. The faculty offices will be mixed up together on three floors. This could be an easy change for exisiting programs if people are willing to go through the pains of moving and territorial issues. The heads of each department will reside together in one suite on the first floor together. The small group rooms in this building will be used by all programs. There will be at least one large classroom that really isn't assigned, most of the time, to any one program and can be used for IPE activities as well as call back days, overflow for testing etc.. We hope that this is a start to more interprofessional interaction among students, faculty and staff. In the future we will be moving more of our health sciences programs to this same campus space a little way from our main campus. I suspect that more planning will go into interprofessional spaces in the next building.
Is anyone involved in discussions about creating "IPE Space" right now? Currently involved in two building projects (early-on); both involving entirely new construction around health science education buildings. One is to be designed to facilitate IPE and the other is new IPE space within a medical school educaiton project and/or rennovation of existing space on campus to facilitate multi-profession IPE. I am curious to hear others' thoughts on the topic of what is needed. Thanks.
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This article was recently published and is a great example of repurposing space to assist in IPE facilitation on a campus.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02763869.2015.1082377#.Vk40d...
Abstract: When the University of Mississippi Medical Center embraced a didactic shift to patient-centered, interprofessional education of its medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health students, the Rowland Medical Library repurposed space to support the cause and created a collaborative learning space designated for campus-wide utility.
Thanks for the link. We are just building a new building so this is timely. We can also think about changing up some exisiting space for activities with some of these ideas.
Hi Emily - We have a two-room office that houses the part-time director and myself (program Coordinator) as well as our Administrative Assistant. This works well for the day-to-day logistics of planning and holding small meetings. We also have a "guest desk" where faculty from our Biddeford, Maine campus, or students are welcome to work. This hasn't been used as much as we thought it might be.
What we lack, is a space on our Portland Campus that is set up for round-table discussion that can regularly hold 100+ students.
Good luck! Kris
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