UofT Interprofessional Education University of Toronto











Planning Interprofessional Education initiatives

All educational initiatives should employ an iterative plan-do-study-act cycle. The way you plan IPE will have an impact on the success of the venture. It is important to collaboratively plan the initiative with representatives from each of the health professions that will be involved. Start your planning by answering the questions posed in the following framework.1

Design framework for Interprofessional Education initiatives

  1. What are the external/internal drivers influencing the development of this program?
  2. Who are your potential partners?
  3. What is the overall goal of this activity at the interdisciplinary and discipline-specific levels? ie. attitudes, skill development, team building.
  4. What are the opportunities within the current learning context? Consider:
    • the patient population
    • the practice site(s)
    • the learners in terms of disciplines and level of training
    • the timing (scheduling, length of program)
  5. What barriers/difficulties do you anticipate and how can you overcome them?
  6. Who are the key players in designing this intervention?
    • how will you involve them?
    • what will be their roles and responsibilities?
    • how will you build group trust and cohesiveness?
    • how will you ensure good communication?
    • how will you resolve conflict?
  7. What are the specific objectives of this activity?
    • content
    • essential elements of interdisciplinarity
  8. What teaching methods and tools will you use to operationalize these objectives?
  9. How will you evaluate the activity:
    • reactions/satisfaction
    • learning (Knowledge-Attitudes-Skills)
    • behaviours
    • results (impact)
  10. How will you ensure the sustainability of this program?
    • funding
    • challenging the culture

Educators planning IPE for pre-licensure health professional students might also want to consult D'Eon, Marcel (2005) A blueprint for interprofessional learning. Journal of Interprofessional Care, (May 2005) Supplement 1: 49-59

1 Nasmith, L., Oandasan, I, Waters, I, Purden, (2003). Interdisciplinary education in Primary Health Care: moving beyond tokenism. College of Family Physicians of Canda Family Medicine Forum 2003, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

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12 August 2010