Interprofessional education (IPE) involves learning with, from, and about other professions to improve communication and patient care. It was first introduced in 1988 by the World Health Organization. IPE promotes collaboration between disciplines through shared education and research experiences, unlike interdisciplinary learning which occurs within individual disciplines. UNC-Chapel Hill faces challenges to implementing robust IPE programs, including funding, scheduling, and navigating relationships between academic departments. An IPE steering committee was formed in 2016 to help build IPE opportunities across the university's health sciences schools.

1. v. 11.10.2016
What is IPE?
 Interprofessional Education (IPE) is
learning with, from and about other
professions
 The concept was first introduced in
1988 but the World Health
Organization (WHO)
 IPE is intended to improve
communication and understanding
among different professions,
primarily in health care to improve
patient care
 Interdisciplinary and multi-
disciplinary are academic terms for a
model where two discipline areas
work together to approach a topic or
problems through education and
research. This learning tends to be
done in silos.
 Interprofessional Education involves
more collaboration between
discipline areas in order to have a
broader perspective of discipline
areas instead of just solving a single
topic or problem.
ULEAD Team 3
Matthew Belskie, Educational Technology
Coordinator, Office of Arts & Sciences
Information Services UNC-CH
Jessica Fleming, HR Consultant, Kenan-
Flagler Business School, UNC-CH
Larisa Rodgers, Health Informatics
Coordinator at Carolina Health Informatics
Program, UNC-CH
Naadii Salaam, HR Consultant, School of Law,
UNC-CH
IPE: FROM
SILOS TO
FABRIC

2. What are we doing now
system wide?
Winston-Salem State University: Virtual Hospital
Appalachian State University:: Blue Cross & Blue
Shield of NC Institute for Health and Human
Services
Fayetteville State University: Collaborative
Institute for Interprofessional Education and
Practice
UNC Greensboro, High Point University, and NC
A&T University: working group for IPE for health
affairs students at all 3 universities
UNC Wilmington: Simulation Learning Center at
UNCW School of Nursing
UNC Pembroke: teamed up with Campbell
University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine to
host a day of learning event
East Carolina University: TeamSTEPPS, an
interprofessional intervention training program
UNC Chapel Hill: Geriatric Interprofessional
Education Event, SHAC, for-credit courses
What are the challenges
at UNC-Chapel Hill?
 Funding
 Lack of shared spaces or buildings
 Scheduling issues with different
programs being on different
academic calendars
 Financial and credit structures
such as which department
receives the tuition dollars and
awards credit
 Buy in from faculty in order to
buy-out instruction time
 Navigating the political landscape
 Who owns the program? “If you
want to see IPE killed, house it in a
single department”
What is happening now?
IPE Steering Committee was formed in
2016. Each health affairs schools agreed to
fund a 10% faculty position from each
school to focus on building and organizing
a more robust IPE program. The group
meets biweekly. IPE is being required more
for accreditation so IPE will become more
important in the future.
“None of us is a single thread, we are
this whole amazing fabric” –
Katherine Barron, School of Social
Work, UNC-CH, MSW ‘17
How to build IPE?
 Look for ways to implement free or low cost
collaboration and networking events, such as
lunch and learns or brown bag lunches
 Invest some resources into holding an event
or conference for attendees from various
degree programs or professional schools.
Content of the event should focus on learning
about the different professions and
developing collaborative problem solving.
Also could look to incorporate a 1 credit hour
seminar course into curriculum.
 Fully imbed IPE into a curriculum. This
would require significant resources. Most of
the resources would go towards hiring a
Program Manager that can coordinate with
the various programs involved in the
curriculum. Additional cost would be needed
for faculty buy-out of course load for their
current department. With the expenses for
the Program Manager, the faculty buy-out
and additional program expenses,
departments should expect to spend at a
minimum $125,000/year for the IPE
program
 Potential revenue source for IPE funding:
donations through a Capital Campaign or
other fundraising efforts. Work with
development officers to tell the IPE story of
students who have been positively impacted
by IPE learning opportunities.