Building a successful platform for interprofessional education for health professions in an Asian university

Abstract

Implementing Interprofessional Education (IPE) across health professions schools is challenging. Within an Asian context, academic staff at the National University of Singapore designed a platform to create a sustainable IPE effort. A two-pronged approach was developed to ensure adequate coverage of key concepts relating to IPE within each involved faculty. The Interprofessional Core Curricula (ICC) component ensures that each health profession student will be exposed to IPE concepts in their required curriculum. Interprofessional Enrichment Activities (IEA) incentivize further cross-faculty participation and progress within the IPE competency framework. Best practices and success factors were identified, while lessons learned led to further improvements. Adoption of this approach can help circumvent well-known barriers to implementation. © 2013 Informa UK Ltd.