Abstract
The importance of interprofessional education and practice has been well documented
for all health care disciplines. Our health care delivery system is challenged by
the need to prepare health professions graduates with skills that get them ready to
function as collaborative members of the health care team. Educators have long struggled
to create interprofessional learning environments that would inculcate the needed
values and competencies. The purpose of this article is to share one institution's
path in developing an integrated context for learning across several disciplines to
assure that graduates can fulfill their full professional roles in clinical care,
education, advocacy, leadership, and quality improvement. Through a program called
IMPACT Practice, the MGH Institute of Health Professions has developed an array of
opportunities for students from different programs to interact with each other, emphasizing
the collaborative skills that will benefit patients and clients as well as contribute
to positive change within the health care system. These opportunities are based on
core competencies developed by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC)
as well as institutional core competencies that go beyond IPEC to address the full
professional role. In the second part of this article, the IMPACT experience will
be described through the journey of one student in the Communication Sciences and
Disorders program.
Keywords
Interprofessional education - interprofessional practice - core competencies
