Interprofessional Education at CHP

We welcome students, faculty and staff in the College of Health Professions at Wichita State University, along with the health professions community at large to participate in interprofessional education opportunities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined interprofessional education as “when students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes” (WHO, 2010).  IPE prepares students for interprofessional practice defined as “when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, carers and communities to deliver the highest quality of care.” (WHO, 2010).

To accomplish this purpose, the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC, 2011) established four competency domains to drive educational opportunities for healthcare students:

• Values/ethics for interprofessional practice
• Roles/responsibilities
• Interprofessional communication
• Teams and teamwork

Exposure, Immersion, and Competence

The College will adhere to the IPEC competencies and the WHO definitions through a working framework of Exposure, Immersion, and Competence.  Our IPE program will include activities of varying complexity and length that will provide experiences of exposure, immersion, and competence in the practice of IPE. These three levels are not exclusively linear but will sometimes overlap.

1. Exposure:  activities that offer primarily knowledge based information, focused on “describing roles and responsibilities” and “demonstrating awareness”.  Examples of short duration activities might include:

a. Guided shadowing experiences
b. An introductory level course in “Health Care Professions”
c. “Lunch and Learn” events
d. An introductory level module on the IPEC competencies 

2. Immersion:  activities of longer duration requiring higher levels of interaction among students.  Students will collaborate with other health professional students, make decisions, and solve problems

a. Case simulation activities
b. Communication skills labs
c. Clinical initiatives
d. Undergraduate and graduate courses in evidence-based practice
e. Autism screening teams

3. Competence:  activities where students will integrate their IP knowledge and skills in a team environment.  These activities will have students actively engaged in team decision making around patient/client care.

a. Clinical practice teams
b. Haiti teams
c. KU School of Pharmacy/WSU Nursing clinical rotation activities
 

Within this framework, this program will support the following components:

1. IPE learning experiences for students that are matched to their level of experience
2. Faculty development initiatives
3. Opportunities for assessment and research