From Inception to Year 5: The Evolution of Interprofessional Education at the University of Michigan
Background: In 2015, the provost and the health science deans committed $6 million over five years to develop an interprofessional health education initiative, including the founding of the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education (Center for IPE). By aligning the needs and interests of health professions education with collaborative practice, the health science schools are working to transform the way they prepare U-M students to become effective members of collaborative health care teams.
Design: The Center for IPE is the coordinating body for IPE across the health sciences schools tasked to drive forth 5 overarching goals for IPE at U-M:1) Create a collaborative culture, 2) Cultivate a core interprofessional curriculum, 3) Develop faculty to teach in innovative learning environments, 4) Create a unique body of knowledge, and 5) Become a national/international leader in IPE.
The Center for IPE creates venues and capacity-building opportunities to achieve the goals and potential of IPE through curriculum development, clinical innovation and evaluative research. The Center for IPE in partnership with the health science schools also coordinates a myriad of other opportunities to engage students and faculty.
Results: IPE offerings for students have increased from 5 in year 1 to 35 in year 5. Over 145 manuscripts have been published on IPE by U-M faculty over the past 5 years. Eight of the 10 health science schools have IPE as a mandate in their curricula for 100% of targeted learners. In 2019-20, over 3,000 health science students had at least 1 IPE experience during that academic year. Over $675,000 of IPE research has been funded internally. U-M faculty have received numerous IPE awards including an inaugural American Interprofessional Health Collaborative award, internal Awards for Innovation, as well as the regional MIPERC Awards.
Lessons Learned: Identify and leverage champions within each school.
Identify and collaborate with the existing resources at U-M to develop mutually beneficial partnerships and efforts.
Put diverse people together with a general goal and give them structure to be innovative.
Next Steps: The next phase will focus on full integration of IPE into each health science school, their culture, and their curricula. Additionally, emphasis will be placed on IPE in experiential settings including both clinical and community spaces. This will allow students and faculty to apply the didactic IPE that has flourished to the practice settings and drive forth collaborative practice models.
