Interprofessional Education: Building Collaborations in Didactic and Clinical Nurse Practitioner Education for Improved Patient Outcomes

Collaboration of diverse and varied disciplines is required in clinical practice to decrease health care errors, improve patient safety, and enhance positive patient outcomes. While interprofessional practice is essential for positive clinical outcomes, the knowledge and skills to achieve a collaborative working relationship is best accomplished when incorporated in student’s formative education. Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (2011) have been established by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative, sponsored by national organizations representing six disciplines, including nursing. Additionally, advanced practice nursing competencies include interprofessional development, collaboration, and leadership (National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties [NONPF], 2013), Competencies have been identified and advanced nursing programs have initiated efforts toward collaborating with other professions in APN student education; however, models for IPE integration, evidence-based strategies and progress toward effective IPE are still under development. The path between the standards of IPE and the reality of changing the culture of health care education requires communication and collaboration of multiple stakeholders across disciplines, colleges, and often education entities. The concepts of interprofessional education including role, communication, and quality need to be integrated both in the classroom and practiced in the clinical setting. This presentation is to describe experiences in developing IPE at the University of Illinois at Chicago, models and activities employed to promote IPE, identify challenges in developing and implementing IPE initiatives in multiple sites for NP education. Best practices in the development, implementation, and evaluation of IPE curriculum and resources for IPE development will be presented.

 Questions for discussion include:

1. How do nurse practitioner programs start to integrate an IPE approach in an NP curriculum and what resources are available for IPE development?

2. What models have been used as the IPE foundational framework within NP programs?

3. How can the core IPE competencies of values/ethics for interprofessional practice, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams and teamwork be incorporated into didactic and clinical NP education?

4. What barriers and challenges affect initiation and sustainability of IPE?

5. What strategies and initiatives have been found to be successful in facilitating IPE?

6. What outcomes are indicative of successful IPE integration in NP education?