Institute of Medicine Releases Report On Interprofessional Education

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The Institute for Medicine’s (IOM) newest report on Interprofessional Education has just been released. Janice Palaganas, PhD, CMS’ Director of Educational Innovation and Development, was one of six experts, and the first Simulationist, invited by the Institute to inform on the subject matter of its newest report. 

From the Institute of Medicine – Report At A Glance
Measuring the Impact of Interprofessional Education on Collaborative Practice and Patient Outcomes

Over the past half century, there have been ebbs and flows of interest in linking what is now called interprofessional education (IPE) with interprofessional collaboration and team-based care. Whereas considerable research has focused on student learning, only recently have researchers begun to look beyond the classroom and beyond learning outcomes for the impact of IPE on such issues as patient safety, patient and provider satisfaction, quality of care, health promotion, population health, and the cost of care. In 2013, the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education held two workshops on IPE. At these workshops, a number of questions were raised, the most important of which was “What data and metrics are needed to evaluate the impact of IPE on individual, population, and system outcomes?” To answer this question, the Forum’s 47 individual sponsors requested that an IOM consensus committee be convened to examine the existing evidence on this complex issue and consider the potential design of future studies that could expand this evidence base.

A new IOM report examines the methods needed to measure the impact that interprofessional education (IPE)  has on collaborative practice and health and system outcomes. The value of IPE—which occurs when learners of two or more health and/or social care professions engage in learning with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration and the delivery of care—has been embraced worldwide, but many in leadership positions have questioned how IPE affects patient, population, and health system outcomes. This question cannot be fully answered without well-designed studies, and these studies cannot be conducted without an understanding of the methods and measurements needed to conduct such an analysis.

The IOM report recommends actions that interprofessional stakeholders, funders, policy makers, health profession educators, and academic and health system leaders can take to better measure the impact of IPE on collaborative practice and health and system outcomes. The committee also puts forth a conceptual model for evaluating IPE that could be adapted to particular settings in which it is applied.

IOM IPEDownload the report for free at www.iom.edu/IPE.

We encourage you to share this report with your colleagues and help spread the word about this important topic.