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Students attending a nursing class

Interprofessional Education

Why Interprofessional Education?

Husson University considers interprofessional education, and the resultant interprofessional collaborative practice, as an essential part of the professional training of all in the healthcare field. In fact, we know that practicing collaboratively with other health professionals improves not only patient safety, but patient outcomes as well!

Interest in promoting team-based education for U.S. health professions is not new. At the first Institute Of Medicine (IOM) Conference titled, "Interrelationships of Educational Programs for Health Professionals," Held in 1972,120 leaders from allied health, dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy considered the importance of Interprofessional education in developing the healthcare workforce of the future.

The move to encourage team-based education grew out of several assumptions made by the IOM Committee:

  • that there were serious questions about how to use the existing health workforce optimally and cost-effectively
to meet patient, family and community health care needs
  • that educational institutions had a responsibility not only to produce a healthcare workforce responsive to health care needs, but also to ensure that they could practice to their full scope of expertise
  • that optimal use of the health professions workforce required a cooperative effort in the form of teams, sharing common goals and incorporating the patient, family and/or community as a member
  • that such cooperation would improve care and
  • that the existing educational system was not preparing health professionals for team work.

Almost 40 years later, these issues are still compelling.

Health professions education must be transformed. No longer can each profession claim a part of patient care as their own "territory". The changes envisioned will provide opportunities for health professions students to engage in interactive learning with those outside their profession as a routine part of their education. The goal of Interprofessional learning is to prepare all health professions students for deliberately working together with the common goal of building a better, safer healthcare system.

Husson University strongly believes in the power of the team - join us as we prepare the healthcare leaders of the future!