Introduction to IPE at UHN
UHN provides innovative Interprofessional Education (IPE) for students and staff to learn about, from and with each other. IPE learning opportunities occur through partnerships with students and staff across professions, enhancing our ability to provide excellent patient care through collaborative learning.
Student interprofessional learning opportunities include:
- structured IPE placements in which students collaborate and learn together as members of the same student team over a number of weeks and/or
- a range of flexible IPE activities in which a single student/team of students can participate in interprofessional learning about, from and with UHN team members and/or other students;
Structured IPE Clinical Experiences (SIPE)
Students at UHN, from across professions and non-clinical roles, can participate in structured IPE placements. The structured IPE clinical experience program enables students to meet their profession-specific clinical placement requirements while also participating in unique interprofessional learning. See www.hpworkshop.com for the current SIPE opportunities at UHN.
During a structured IPE clinical experiences, the goals are for students to:
- develop an increased understanding of the expertise that each profession brings to solving health problems and in providing patient care, including team members’ roles and responsibilities;
- learn and collectively develop clinical expertise together;
- build a critical understanding of team functioning within the context of a collaborative team.
Facilitating SIPEs
Co-Facilitators support the students in weekly sessions, Content Experts and Clinical Preceptors/Supervisors/Instructors enhance the interprofessional learning.
Skilled facilitation of these clinical experiences is an essential part of their success for the students, and facilitation of IPE clinical experiences also provides an invaluable opportunity to grow your own teaching skills as you contribute to interprofessional student learning.
Facilitating IPE Clinical Experiences has many benefits:
- Valuable addition to resumes or applications for university appointments;
- Encourages system thinking while keeping a clinical perspective;
- Develops collaborative leadership skills;
Sharpens skills that are applicable to every team interaction.
Flexible IPE Activities
Every student who learns at UHN will benefit from taking part in the opportunities offered for interprofessional learning. Beyond structured IPE Clinical Experiences, students are encouraged to:
- shadow and interview team members
- participate in interprofessional assessment/treatment as appropriate
- participate as a team member in team interactions (e.g. rounds, meetings) and reflect meaningfully about how interprofessional collaboration enables excellence in patient care
Interprofessional facilitators are always needed for various interprofessional sessions across all campuses of UHN. To be involved in IPE facilitation, please contact jill.krupa@uhn.ca
