About

IPE at the University

It is important that in the development of this project, that we acknowledge that IPE already exists in programmes at Ulster University and the aim is to provide additional IPE opportunities for students to develop new knowledge, attributes and values in group immersive educational experiences. In doing so, it will be important to focus on collaborative activities and services that can achieve more than could be achieved by the same health professionals acting independently.  

For this project, it is also important to note that inter-professional education occurs on a continuum from early exposure to other professions through to collaborative practice in teams in the practice-based setting. 

We put such a great emphasis on professional identities at Ulster University. These are carefully constructed and nurtured by course teams to engender a sense of belonging and professionalism. In inter-professional education, we must nurture dual identities in our students (mono-professional and inter-professional) thereby enabling learners to understand their professional boundaries, and their contributions to an inter-professional team, overcoming any stereotyping and other barriers to collaboration (Hill et al. 2019).

IPE project aims and objectives

Aims 

To develop an IPE Framework that provides a model to design, embed and evaluate interprofessional education in order to develop collaborative practice-ready health professionals. The Framework aims to provide opportunities and greater support for IPE engagement, to consider the pedagogy of IPE and develop a strategy for moving forward. 

Objectives 

The group will aim to meet the following objectives: 

  1. To review the current delivery of inter-professional educational experiences in Schools and evaluate what works best in terms of pedagogy, assessment and engagement and an analysis of the barriers, challenges and requirements of IPE practices.  
  2. To create authentic interprofessional learning opportunities for students across health-related provision and promote collaboration, reflection, role clarification, communication, trust, decision making and person-centredness. 
  3. To advise on the pedagogy of interprofessional education, the sourcing of case studies/artifacts and the development of a strategy for moving forward 
  4. To consider the need for alternative approaches to the delivery of IPE face-to-face to complement the delivery of IPE in a multi-campus environment.  
  5. To make recommendations on the governance, support, coordination and resourcing of IPE and consideration of a Centre for Interprofessional Practice and Education.  
  6. To promote research and evaluation of the IPE Framework involving feedback from all stakeholders. 

Sub-groups