IPR.Global Publishes Discussion Paper on Post-COVID Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice

As we are emerging out of the Pandemic, we have a unique opportunity to leverage on the lessons learned from the pandemic in fostering the healthcare transformation through innovation and IPECP. To capitalize on this opportunity and in a collaborative effort, the InterprofessionalResearch.Global (IPR.Global), the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC), and the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC) have published the Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (IPECP) in Post-COVID Healthcare Education and Practice Transformation Era E-Book. This e-book, as a Discussion Paper, aims to explore and discuss (from a global perspective) the impact and application of healthcare education and practice transformation on IPECP as we emerge from the COVID Pandemic with the goal to identify best practices to integrate and sustain IPECP. 

The e-book provides information in two main sections: 

IPECP and Healthcare Education and Practice at a Cross Point: The future of healthcare relies on our successful and systematic evolution out of the Pandemic. The COVID-19 Pandemic has placed healthcare at a crossroads of either viewing it as a temporary situation that requires short-term solutions, or as a major disruption that presents opportunities for innovation for sustainable development and transformation.

From Momentum to a Movement: Ways to Integrate and Sustain IPECP in Healthcare Education and Practice: As the landscape of higher education and healthcare is continuing to evolve to meet the growing needs and expectations of students, patients, and communities, it is time for the IPECP leaders to reflect on the changing societal trends, demographics, diversity, and technologies in becoming more adaptable for the future. The healthcare digital transformation and technologies are here to stay and grow, and the sustainability and growth of virtual learning and practice in IPECP will be reliant on how we best utilize them to meet the IPECP agenda and goal of achieving Quintuple Aim. 

We call the interprofessional educators, practitioners, leaders, scholars, and policy makers to utilize both ‘Forward Thinking and Adaptability’ and ‘Sustainability and Growth’ in their IPECP approaches and strategies, to achieve Quintuple Aim. As learned during the Pandemic, working together – across professions, institutions, nations, and globally – is essential in emerging stronger and in transforming our healthcare education and practice.

To read more and download the publication, please follow the link here: https://interprofessionalresearch.global/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IPECP-in-Post-COVID-Healthcare-Education-and-Practice-Transformation-Era-Joint-Discussion-Paper.pdf  

IPR.Global Publishes 2022 Global IPE Situational Analysis Results Final Report

The Global Network for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Research [InterprofessionalResearch.Global (IPR.Global)] and the Global IPE Situational Analysis Working Group is pleased to announce the publication of the 2022 Global IPE Situational Analysis Results Final Report E-Book. This e-book, as an up-to-date global IPE report after the World Health Organization Study Group on IPECP environmental scan in 2010, (Rodger et al., 2010), presents the results of 2020-2021 global IPE situational analysis survey conducted by the IPR.Global in collaboration with the Interprofessional.Global. In total, 152 academic institutions from six regions worldwide contributed to the study. As reported in this e-book, despite the significant growth of IPE program development across the globe, the integration, sustainability, and growth of institutional-level IPE remains a top priority around the globe. The e-book presents the recent global uptake of IPE along with the micro-, meso-, and macro-level processes that support (or hinder) the IPE programs development and implementation across the globe. The results are presented both at the global and regional levels. This e-book also shares the gained insights on the global status of IPE This e-book also shares the gained insights on the global status of IPE with the global IPECP community that they can use it in their advocacy towards IPE integration and sustainability in their institutions and regions during the post-COVID healthcare education and practice transformation. To learn more, here is the link to the full Final Report.  You are welcome to widely distribute this free of charge e-book with your colleagues, students, institutions, and networks. Please visit us at https://interprofessionalresearch.global/ for additional resources, publications, and the 2023 IPR.Global Awards (due by January 16th, 2023).  Should you require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us at ipresearch.global@gmail.com.

IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Celia Matyanga, University of Zimbabwe

Hello, I’m Celia Matyanga. I am a pharmacist by profession and an academic by choice. I come from Harare in Zimbabwe, currently employed as a lecturer in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (University of Zimbabwe). I am also a PhD candidate with the same university in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology. 

“Your network is your net worth,” (J.Rohn). My achievements are attributed to my networks and the collaborations formed, I never would’ve made it by myself.

My interest in interprofessional education and research grew from the time I completed my Masters and joined academia in 2013. Then, I worked at the Harare Institute of Technology as a pharmacy practice lecturer. In 2015, I was awarded training in operational research under the Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT), global partnership of WHO and other funders. I was privileged to work with health professionals from diverse backgrounds and nationalities and we successfully completed and published the project in Public Health Action. Thereafter, another opportunity arose through the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the African Union Scientific, Technical and Research Commission (AU-STRC). This was an international fellowship for training on research methodology and biostatistical analysis, where we networked with researchers from all over Africa and India. In 2019-2020, I participated in the Health Education Advanced Leadership Program in Zimbabwe (HEALZ). The L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa Young Talents Award and the NIH Fogarty International Center HIV/AIDS Research Training Program were other notable highlights. Currently, I am involved in the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) for the African Excellence in Research: Zimbabwe Gender in STEMM Project. This program fosters interprofessional mentorship in research.

IPR.Global is an excellent platform to network and collaborate with other researchers. Currently, I am a training in the Prof. James Hakim Leadership Development Programme that instils key leadership competencies for different health professions education leaders across African institutions. I am also a trainee in the AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Workshop, which strengthens health research capacity of scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa.

And finally, should pineapple be on pizza? 

Most definitely YES! Sweet and tangy pizza with pineapple is the best.

To contact Celia, email: celiammj@yahoo.com 

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9799-136X  

LinkedIn: Celia MJ Matyanga

Twitter: @celiammj

AfrIPEN Studying State of IPE in Undergraduate Health Professions Education in Africa

The Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN) will be embarking research project to study Interprofessional Education in Africa. On behalf of AfrIPEN, Dr Gerard Filies [B.Sc. (OT), M.Phil (Health ScEd), PhD] recently presented a poster 2022 TUFH Virtual Regional Conference for Africa on the project along with collaborators Champion Nyoni PhD and Elize Pietersen PhD.

The research question is: 

What is the state of IPE in undergraduate health professions education in Africa? 

The objectives of the study are: 

1. To map HPE that offer IPE programmes in Africa
2. To describe the nature of IPE programmes offered in HPE institutions in Africa
3. To describes gaps in IPE in Africa. 

A detailed description of IPE programmes/activities in HEI in Africa is essential. This study would provide important foundational information related to the extent of the integration of IPE activities in undergraduate education at HEIs. This information would be important in supporting interventions towards region-wide IPE activities and harmonised policy development related to IPE in Africa. 

This project is part of the Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN)’s initiatives towards supporting, advocating for and enhancing IPE in mainstream health professions education in the African continent. 

For more information contact: gfilies@uwc.ac.za

IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Stella Ng, University of Toronto Centre for Interprofessional Education (Canada)

Hello to the IPE/IPC community. My name is Stella Ng PhD, Reg.CASLPO and since May of 2021, I have been the director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Interprofessional Education. I spent nearly a decade prior to this as the director of research at the same university's Centre for Faculty Development. So, I am no stranger to health professions education; yet I am somewhat new to the IPE/IPC community. That said, while I am treating this spotlight submission as an introductory piece for myself, I must say it has felt more like returning home since I changed roles. 

I started out in my career as an educational audiologist, liaising between health care institutions and the public education system. I worked closely with children and their families, teachers and principals, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and clinical professionals (e.g. developmental pediatricians). It was from this practice experience that my passion for education science was eventually born. I went back to school and completed a PhD in Health Professional Education after the wonderful health professions education scholar Anne Kinsella handed me the book “The Reflective Practitioner” by Donald Schön. This book resonated with the indeterminate zones of practice I had found myself working within. While my formal education had exposed me to “evidence-based practice” as one way to approach practice, this model was falling short in the unique, value-conflicted, uncertain, and dynamic context of school-based health. So, for the past 15 years I have been studying reflective practice as a way of navigating the uncertainty of everyday practice. I have studied critical reflection as a way of reflecting that calls attention and propels change to unhelpful/harmful assumptions, power relations and social structures. And I have been studying and advancing transformative education and critical pedagogical approaches that help health professionals be critically reflective practitioners. I sum up my research, education, and leadership praxis as “critical reflection & pedagogy for collaborative, compassionate, ethical health care / science.” 

I am so thrilled to come home to the IPE/IPC community after a decade spent in faculty development and a bit more in the medical education world. While IPE and medical education are both a part of the broad health professions education field, there is a certain familiarity in the collaborative healthcare and education context. I believe collaborative approaches are more important than ever as we work together to create a world where trust and a deep sense of belonging are the standard, for all who seek or work in healthcare. I am looking forward to learning and working together with this community, toward a vision of a healthier world. 

Email Dr. Ng at: stella.ng@utoronto.ca

IPR.Global Names Inaugural Honorees of the Barbara Fifield Brandt Award

InterprofessionalResearch Global is pleased to announce the the inaugural honorees of the Barbara Fifield Brandt IPR.Global Award is Dr. Priya Martin BOT, MS, PhD and team from the University of Queensland (Australia) for their project entitled: Rural Interprofessional Education and Supervision Project (RIPES). Congratulations to Dr. Martin and the UQ team!

The Barbara Fifield Brandt IPR.Global Award recognizes an academic – practice partnership team that demonstrates impact on learner and health outcomes through sustaining and connecting interprofessional education and collaborative practice in community-based practice settings serving vulnerable and high-risk populations.

To learn more and watch Dr. Martin's project presentation, visit the IPR.Global website: https://interprofessionalresearch.global/20-21ipr-global-bra/

The 2022-2023 IPR.Global Research & Leadership Awards Application is now available! 

Information and submission link posted on the IPR.Global website: https://interprofessionalresearch.global/bestresearchawards/

Call for Applications - 2022-2023 IPR.Global Research & Leadership Awards

The InterprofessionalResearch.Global (IPR.Global) Research and Leadership Awards aim at honoring innovative interprofessional scholarly work in the format of partnership, evaluation, research, or dissertation work, accompanied by outstanding interprofessional leadership that has had a positive sustainable impact on the academic/practice/community with notable contribution to the interprofessional education and collaborative practice field at the global level.

The IPR.Global Research and Leadership Awards recognize interprofessional scholarly works and leadership that exemplify excellence in the following Award Categories:

Barbara Fifield Brandt IPR.Global Award

The Barbara Fifield Brandt IPR.Global Award recognizes an academic – practice partnership team that demonstrates impact on learner and health outcomes through sustaining and connecting interprofessional education and collaborative practice in community-based practice settings serving vulnerable and high-risk populations.

Hugh Barr IPR.Global Award

The Hugh Barr IPR.Global Award recognizes an interprofessional team for the evaluation of an outstanding example of collaboration between academic institutions and health/social service delivery organizations in high/middle-income and low-income countries to promote and sustain interprofessional education and collaborative practice.

John H.V. Gilbert IPR.Global Award 

The John H.V. Gilbert IPR.Global Award recognizes the author of an outstanding interprofessional doctoral dissertation, published in the past three years (since 2019), that has resulted in a learning paradigm which brings interprofessional education and learning to interprofessional collaborative practice in a practice setting where practitioners, students and patients have been engaged in developing measurable interprofessional high quality care. 

Global Distinguished Leadership Award 

The IPR.Global Distinguished Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership of an individual/team who have made transformative, inclusive, measurable, and sustainable contributions to the promotion, implementation, evaluation, and/or advancement of interprofessional education, collaborative practice, and/or research in and across their educational/practice/network settings with a global impact.

Learn more at: https://interprofessionalresearch.global/bestresearchawards

Application Submission is open till September 30th, 2022 at 11:59 PM PST

2022-2023 Application Form

2022-2023 Application Guidelines

Application Submission Link