The Interprofessional Educational Collaborative
The Interprofessional Educational Collaborative is an initiative that was started in 2009 to create core competencies for guidance of curriculum development across schools offering health professions including; medicine, nursing, dentistry, osteopathic medicine, public health, and pharmacy. The implementation recommendations and competencies were published in 2011. The collaborative was created with a lot of usefulness to future professionals because, apart from providing profession-specific educational competencies, it ensures that students of different professionals are engaged with interactive learning among themselves. The initial competencies published in 2011 were made intentionally general to provide flexibility at institutional levels and within professions. The 2016 release aims at increasing the momentum of the initially envisioned IPEC. The current IPEC is very useful because it widens interprofessional competencies for the achievement of three aims in population health. These aims include; improved patience experience in healthcare, lower healthcare per capita cost, and improved the health of populations.
The Academic Collaborative Integrative Health initially worked concurrently with IPEC but specialized its collaboration between professionals and academics in five disciplines including; pharmacy dentistry, osteopathy, nursing, and public health. Later, ACIH adopted the IEPC competencies after reviewing them in 2018. The competencies in ACIH are very useful in various ways. The first competency on value and ethics for interprofessional practice ensures that a climate of shared values and mutual respect are maintained in healthcare by working with individuals in different professionals. The competency of ACIH on roles and responsibilities is very useful as it ensures the needs of the population and patients served are addressed and accessed by using one’s specific responsibilities and those of others. The competency on interprofessional communication ensures that all stakeholders in healthcare provision are involved in treatment of diseases and maintenance of health. The competency on team and teamwork allows relationship building for safe efficient and equitable care. The competency on evidence informed practice ensures scientific evidence is relied on during decision-making. The last competency on integrated healthcare culture and practice is useful in preparing practitioners without principal education in mainstream delivery environments.