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Interprofessional education (IPE) is an activity that involves two or more professions who learn interactively together to improve collaboration and the quality of care. Research has continually revealed that health and social care professionals encounter a range of problems with interprofessional coordination and collaboration which impact on the quality and safety of care. This empirical work resulted in policymakers across health care education and practice to invest in IPE to help resolve this collaborative failures.

There is a current focus within healthcare on interprofessional collaboration as an important tool in optimising health outcomes through effective, team-based care. Within higher education, interprofessional education is increasingly being incorporated into undergraduate health and allied health curricula. This article reports the implementation of a community-based, interprofessional student learning opportunity for undergraduate health and allied health students. Qualitative data were collected from the student and academic participants with a number of key themes identified.

Interprofessional collaboration is vital for the provision of quality patient care. Thoughtfully designed educational programs can help students of health professions develop interprofessional competencies and capacities, including values and ethics, roles and responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teamwork (Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel, 2011).

The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, a United States public–private partnership, was formed to provide national leadership, scholarship, evidence, and coordination to advance interprofessional education (IPE) and practice.

Understanding the impact that interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) might have on triple aim patient outcomes is of high interest to health care providers, educators, administrators, and policy makers. Before the work undertaken by the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education at the University of Minnesota, no standard mechanism to acquire and report outcome data related to interprofessional education and collaborative practice and its effect on triple aim outcomes existed.

Editorial

OBJECTIVE:

To identify differences among faculty members in various health professional training programs in perceived benefits and challenges of implementing interprofessional education (IPE).

METHODS:

A 19-item survey using a 5-point Likert scale was administered to faculty members across different health disciplines at a west coast, multicollege university with osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, and physician assistant programs.

RESULTS:

Context

High blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke, the leading cause of death in the U.S., and a substantial national burden through lost productivity and medical care. A recent Community Guide systematic review found strong evidence of effectiveness of team-based care in improving blood pressure control. The objective of the present review is to determine from the economic literature whether team-based care for blood pressure control is cost beneficial or cost effective.

Evidence acquisition

Objective. To evaluate pharmacy and nursing student self-perceptions of interdisciplinary communication skills, faculty member perceptions of interdisciplinary communication skills, and changes in those skills after increasing the interdisciplinary education content.

This is a review of Interprofessional Clinical Case Study Competition, sponsored by a medical school (AT Still University/Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine: medicine and dentistry) with collaboration from an undergraduate health professions program (Truman State University: nursing, public health, speech-language pathology, and athletic training).