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Student looks at IPE Zoom Call
WesternU / Interprofessional Practice and Education

Welcome to the Interprofessional Practice and Education Program

WesternU’s IPE program is one of the largest in the country in terms of class size and number of health professional programs participating.

IPE Zoom Call

Why IPE?

Interprofessional Practice and Education (IPE) provides an integrated, interdisciplinary, discussion-based approach to learning. IPE occurs when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. Once students understand how to work interprofessionally, they are ready to enter the workplace as a member of the collaborative practice team. This is a key step in moving health systems from fragmentation to a position of strength.

The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) was formed with the goal to advance interprofessional learning experiences and prepare future health professionals for team-based care. To that end, IPEC created a competency framework for interprofessional collaborative practice as a guide to educators and curricula. IPE programs across the US, including ours, base their programs on these competencies.

Second-year Western University of Health Sciences students are completing their Interprofessional Education (IPE)

IPE at WesternU

The IPE program is designed to provide health professional students with the skills that will promote patient centered care and collaboration. It is critical to quality care and patient safety that health care providers recognize the roles and responsibilities of various professions. As students progress through the IPE curriculum, they are provided opportunities to work virtually in interprofessional teams in order to explore the interconnected nature of patient care and diseases that affect both humans and animals. These collaboration-focused learning activities are designed to produce a new type of health care professional, suited to the new realities of health care practice. Both patients and clinicians will benefit from a collaborative health care environment where providers, patients, clients, and communities work together to improve safety and outcomes, and to promote wellness in communities.
Students are looking at IPE Zoom Call

Benefits of IPE

Students within the IPE Program at WesternU are uniquely positioned to learn from, with, and about students of other health care professions.

The life skills gained from IPE include:
• Communication Skills & Critical Thinking
• Historical and Social Consciousness
• Multicultural Understanding
• Articulation of Values
• Information Literacy
• Integrative Learning
• Systems Thinking
• Virtual Collaboration and Professionalism
• Self-directed Group Dynamics
  • History of IPE

    With roots in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly across the United Kingdom and United States, the IPE movement became energized in the late 1980s through two World Health Organization (WHO) reports: Continuing Education for Physicians and Learning Together to Work Together for Health.

    WHO’s 2010 Report: Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice further elevated IPE to the global health and education agenda when it recognized IPE as a necessary component to every health professional’s education. IPE now occurs in several countries, including the U.S., Canada, England, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and South Africa.

    WesternU’s IPE program, in operation since 2009, was one of the first institutions to develop a comprehensive program designed to help students from multiple health professions learn how to work as a cohesive health care team. The Program is now one of the largest in the country in terms of class size and number of health professional programs participating. These numbers continue to grow as new programs are added to the two WesternU campus, Pomona, CA and Lebanon, OR. Each year, we welcome over 1,000 new students into the program.

  • “IPE fosters a culture of mutual respect, shared decision-making, and ongoing learning, which are essential qualities for success in any health care setting.”

    Monette Solomon
    Assistant Professor, Community-Based Dental Education, College of Dental Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences
    Second-year Western University of Health Sciences students are completing their Interprofessional Education (IPE) classwork with a course designed to motivate, excite and challenge them as they build relationships with other health professionals. Interprofessional Education (IPE) 6100 course administrators created a new version of the or the 2017-18 academic year, looking to stimulate interest through interprofessional simulations from second-year students from across the University.
    The moss wall in the Harriet K. and Philip Pumerantz Library and Learning Resource Center.

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    If you have questions, concerns or need advising, please contact us and we’ll do our best to help.