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.
Why IPE?
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.
IPE at WesternU
Benefits of IPE
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
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.