Three faculty members and Interprofessional Education Fellows shown in photo – Kristin Palladino, Sandra Motel and Joann Moriarty – presented at the National Academies of Practice Forum in Atlanta in April. Their research of 161 first year students showed that after completing an assignment about their professions, student perceptions toward teamwork improved.

Interprofessional Education, also known as IPE, teaches students from two or more health professions how to work together during all or part of their professional training. The objective is to provide students with with real-world experiences that demonstrate the benefits of providing patient-centered health care.

Recommended by the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization, IPE has the potential to help:

• Improve quality of patient care
• Lower costs
• Decrease length of stay
• Reduce medical errors

With a wide range of health profession programs, the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences is uniquely qualified to deliver programs and courses that provide students experience working with different disciplines. These IPE programs prepare them to be ready to work in a team-based environment once they begin work in their respective fields.