Interprofessional education: The key to unlocking the door in the 21st Century

The “team” concept in medicine is not new; its true roots go back over 200 years. The Canadian health care system and the British system have emphasized inter-professional practice for the past ten years. The mid-20th century gave rise to multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. Although each of these team processes varied, the “team” core concept remained in each of these. The first decade of the 21st century is the interprofessional team period. The 2001 IOM Report on interdisciplinary practice outlined its benefits to patient-centered care, patient safety, efficiency and overall effectiveness. In the 2003 IOM, care competencies, interdisciplinary teams and patient-centered care are aligned with quality patient care and evidence-based practice. Given the Federal indicators, primarily HHS and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, interprofessional team theory and practice will remain a central focus, and should be given the challenges of health care in the 21st century. This session will trace the history of the team concept and challenges and barriers to interprofessional education. Interprofessional team practice will be discussed from a theoretical perspective focusing on the science of team practice and the art of delivery. Methods of creating an “Interprofessional Culture” for the students, faculty and professionals will be highlighted. The overarching presentation goal is to provide participants with the necessary tools to create a vision of interprofessional team theory, practice and outcome research.