Nexus Learning System

Developing effective IPE initiatives often means that the ideal teammates are not educated under the same roof. The Vanderbilt Program in Interprofessional Learning (VPIL) is a partnership across four institutions and five professional schools in Nashville, Tennessee. VPIL places teams of four novice students, representing medicine and nursing from Vanderbilt University, pharmacy from Lipscomb and Belmont Universities, and social work from the Mid-Tennessee Collaborative at Tennessee State University in primarily ambulatory clinical settings for one half day a week over the course of two years. In addition to their clinic experience, the teams come together for other learning activities in classroom and simulation center settings and participate in a week-long immersion course that takes place prior to the home program orientations. Planning for VPIL began in 2008. We received a Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation award in 2010 and proceeded to enter our first cohort. As of 2014, 39 interprofessional student teams have participated in our program.