Skip to main content
Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Search this site
Menu
CIPE is now CACHE

Senior Interprofessional Design Projects

Description

The 2026 Senior Interprofessional Design Projects have been created for senior health profession students as an opportunity to partner with a community organization to address an area for future development while advancing collaborative leadership and interprofessional team competencies. 
 

Applications open until January 16, 2026! Click here to fill out the application form.
 

Objectives

Collaborative Competence Objectives

Students will:

  • Establish effective relationships with service users and other team members to support a common goal
  • Reflect on team values to advance team function
  • Effectively apply collaborative decision-making principles
  • Contribute to co-creation of a climate for collaborative leadership

Project Objectives:

Students will:

Program Objectives: 

  • Work with interprofessional team members to collaboratively explore and address a challenge identified by the partner organization(s) 

  • Develop a feasible and realistic design that responds to the needs and priorities presented by the partner organization(s) 

  • Demonstrate a collaborative effort in developing the design 

  • Present the design in a professional manner 

Collaborators

  1. Partner Organization: A representative will be available to provide an introduction to the organization, services offered and needs to be addressed. They will be available at orientation and consultation nights. They will also be evaluators during the final presentation.
  2. Service User: Where possible, a service user will be associated with each of the student teams to provide personal experience related to the organization needs. If a service user is part of the collaborative team, they may also take part in the orientation, consultation and presentation nights.
  3. Faculty Lead: A faculty lead will be available to assist teams at orientation and consultation nights. Teams are also responsible for scheduling at least one meeting with their faculty lead outside of those formal times. Faculty leads will also be evaluators during the final presentation.

Project:

The context: 
Healthcare delivery is increasingly taking place in home and community settings. Unregulated healthcare providers, like personal support workers and community health workers, play a crucial role in supporting people receiving care in home and community settings. However, like regulated healthcare providers, unregulated providers typically receive limited education on how to recognize, include, and collaborate with caregivers as partners in care. This gap in training can directly affect the quality of care and negatively shape the experiences of both patients and caregivers. 

Health professions students, as future healthcare providers, must also be prepared to collaborate effectively in these settings, which includes collaborating with unregulated healthcare providers (e.g., personal support workers and community health workers) and caregivers. 

Current outcomes: 
When healthcare providers are not explicitly taught how to recognize and collaborate with caregivers, they may overlook caregivers’ essential role in maintaining continuity of care and supporting the person receiving care. Caregivers often feel excluded from care planning and decision-making, which contributes to stress, uncertainty, and burnout. In turn, providers experience challenges in communication, role clarity, and coordination when caregiver perspectives are not integrated into daily practice. This can lead to fragmented care for patients and inconsistent support for caregivers, ultimately affecting outcomes for both. 

The opportunity: 
Preparing unregulated healthcare providers to identify, engage, and support caregivers as partners in care can improve care experiences and outcomes for both patients and caregivers. OCO has developed extensive educational materials about supporting caregivers. CAPE has created education programs that feature PSWs with some inclusion of caregivers, yet do not focus sufficiently on caregiver content. Together, OCO and CAPE have an opportunity to collaborate to enhance caregiver-PSW collaboration. 

The Challenge:
How can the existing resources and educational materials of OCO and CAPE be leveraged, integrated, adapted, and/or built upon to cultivate caregiver-focused education in ways that are meaningful and relevant for both caregivers and PSWs, while also being scalable and sustainable? 

Organizational Support: Ontario Caregivers Association (OCO) & Collaborative Advocacy & Partnered Education (CAPE)

Selection Process

In January, interested students will be matched with three to five other students representing various professional programs.

Acceptance Criteria

  1. Students must have completed the first year of their professional program - Exception: Physician Assistant; Master of Professional Kinesiology; Social Work (Advanced Standing).
  2. Applicant must complete the online application form within the given deadlines.
  3. The applicant must prepare a statement explaining why and how it is anticipated that the project will enhance his/her development of interprofessional competencies. Critical and reflective language, interests and interprofessional context as it relates to the project theme will be considered in the selection process.
  4. The selection committee will ensure that a mix of students from various programs are selected to bring interprofessional perspectives to the project.

Student Expectations

Students will:

  1. Apply by January 16th, 2026.
  2. Attend the in person orientation session on Wednesday, January 21, 2025 at 5:15pm via Zoom to meet your team members, faculty lead, and learn about the organization, project topic and expectations. Several teams of students will be responding to the same organization need.
  3. Bring their schedules to the orientation, so they can schedule meetings with their team. Each team is responsible for coordinating and managing all of their own meetings, including those with faculty leads.
  4. Work with their team members to address the identified area of service enhancement throughout the term, applying a collaborative approach. Where possible, team members will have access to a service user representing or linked to the partner organization.
  5. Dedicate approximately 25 hours (plus requisite orientation, consult and final presentation) throughout the term to this project.
  6. Schedule at least one meeting in February to consult with their faculty lead or service user (if applicable).
  7. Schedule the virtual consultation on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026 between 5:15-7:15pm to touch base with the organization and your faculty lead to ask additional questions for a period of 30 minutes. Student teams will sign up for a time slot within this timeframe at orientation night.
  8. Take the time to reflect on the group process, collaborative leadership and team functioning, using the forms provided.
  9. Present a potential solution to the partner organization need on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 5:15pm - in person. Student groups will have 10 minutes to pitch their ideas and organizations as well as 5 minutes to showcase their Collaborative Leadership throughout the process. An additional 5 minutes is scheduled for the organization to ask questions of the student team.

 

Completion

Upon successful completion, each student will receive 2 IPE elective recognition and a certificate recognizing completion issued by the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE), University of Toronto.

Recognition of successful completion will require:

  1. Completion of the student team reflection on team process;
  2. Signing off on contribution of each group members;
  3. Presentation to the partner organization;
  4. A Passing Grade on the final project, including evidence of meeting the appropriate time expectations.

 

Final Presentation: Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 5:15pm (in person)

  1. Students will email their presentation and any additional materials to sabrina.bartlett@uhn.ca
  2. Students will have 10 minutes to present their pitch to the partner organization as well as 5 minutes to showcase their Collaborative Leadership throughout the process. An additional 5 minutes is scheduled for the organization to ask questions of the student team.
  3. The organization and faculty lead will have 5 minutes to provide written feedback to each team based on the rubric provided.
  4. Students will provide supplementary materials to the partner organization.

It is not the expectation that students work with the organization upon completion of the project, although some may choose to do so.

 

Project Contact Information

If you have any questions contact:

Manager, Curriculum & Education Innovation, CACHE, Sabrina Bartlett, Sabrina.bartlett@uhn.ca