USER

I have been involved with interprofessional education since 2004 when I became the co-developer and director of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science’s first Interprofessional Healthcare Teams course for all entering first year students in 8 healthcare programs including medicine. The course focuses on the Institute of Medicine’s 5 Core Competencies including team-based patient centered care. Students are divided into IP teams of 14 with a faculty facilitator to discuss topics relevant to interprofessional health care. The course currently meets for 15 sessions for 90 minutes each time over two quarters and includes a significant service learning project and an elective clinical component. Students are also required to attend two University sponsored cultural events. We have switched our emphasis from the IOM core competencies to the IPEC competencies.

Also in 2004, I initiated the University-wide Interprofessional Curriculum Committee. One project of the IP Curriculum Committee is to assist directors of multi-professional courses to move to an interprofessional format. This has been a successful effort at the University.

In 2005 I was appointed chair and was tasked with developing the Interprofessional Healthcare Studies Department. As chair, I directed and significantly contributed to the development of both the Master of Science (MS) in Women’s Health and MS in Health Professions Education. These programs have interprofessionalism imbedded into all of the courses throughout the curriculum. This successful department now grants a Doctor of Interprofessional Healthcare Studies degree, the first and only in the country.

The RFUMS Institute of Interprofessional Education and Practice was initiated in July of 2012. As the Associate Vice President and Director of the Institute, I am overseeing its development. We currently have three faculty and one staff member in the institute. We are concentrating our efforts on expanding the clinical portion of our interprofessional course and developing IP elective courses.