About Inter-professional Education

The movement toward inter-professional work and the initiatives for inter-professional education is a result of the need for patients to receive safe quality care.  Starting with The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Crossing the Quality Chasm,( 2001) and more recently, Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality (2003)  these reports have become the center of the current restructuring of the health care education curriculums.   The core competencies identified in A Bridge to Quality, are to provide patient-centered care, employ evidence based practice, apply quality improvement, work in interdisciplinary teams and utilize informatics.  The emphasis on inter-professional education (IPE)  is a team approach involving the appropriate disciplines to secure the best patient outcomes.  To be able to work effectively in teams, we need to educate in teams so that there is cooperation, collaboration and communication. 

The West Michigan Model of Inter-professional Education incorporates these core competencies into identified champion areas bridging practice and education.  The champion areas are clinical setting, curriculum, interdisciplinary cross cultural competency, scholarship, service and simulation. The Inter-professional Education conference in January began the work of weaving interdisciplinary perspectives into these champion areas forming dedicated workgroups.  These workgroups are meeting on a monthly basis to achieve identified short and long term goals.   We invite you to participate and support these workgroups as we learn and work together transforming healthcare.