Purpose: A major advancement in interprofessional(IP) practice and education has been the introduction of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies. The purpose of this study is to explore stereotyping as a barrier to achievement of the IPEC competencies. Methods: There has been research into barriers to interprofessional collaboration and some barrier themes have occurred. But to this point, nothing has been studied on barriers to the use of the IPEC core competencies. This study aims to show barriers to achievement of the IPEC competencies through a narrative literature review. Articles were selected from three databases: CINAHL, Medline and ERIC were utilized in this review using the search terms “Interprofessional collaboration” and “Stereotyping”. Results: In articles used to review barriers to interprofessional collaboration, an underlying theme of negative stereotyping about different professions appears to be in place. Themes include: Differences in history and culture, fears of diluted professional identity, differences in language and jargon, and concerns regarding clinical responsibility. Conclusion: A literature review of studies on implementation of interprofessional activities, with correlations to the IPEC core competencies as a framework suggest that stereotyping may be a major barrier to implementation and achievement of the IPEC competencies.

Objective. To design, implement, and assess an interprofessional education (IPE) course in the first professional year of students enrolled in eight different health professions programs.Design. An interprofessional faculty committee created a 1-credit hour required IPE course to not only teach students about the roles and responsibilities of each discipline and how they may contribute to an interprofessional team, but to also improve collaboration and team-based communication skills among health care professions students. Students were placed in interprofessional groups and met weekly to participate in didactic lectures, discussion sessions, and a standardized patient encounter. Assessment. Seven hundred and eighty-three health professions students were enrolled in the course, of which 130 students completed questionnaires at all three time points. Students were neutral about the course and found it moderately valuable (Mean 6.23 [on a scale from 1 to 10], interesting (Mean 5.61), and enjoyable (Mean 5.57). Written feedback from the course indicated that the majority of students enjoyed the standardized patient encounter and thought the course provided a valuable opportunity to interact with other students in other health professions programs. Conclusion. This required course served as an introductory interprofessional approach in preparing health professions students to learn from each other about their various roles and responsibilities and how each can contribute to the health care team.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a single, optional, half-day, interprofessional education (IPE) event for a myriad of graduate-level health professional students (n=44) at a university in Illinois, USA. Methods: The researchers in this study examined students’ performance on two out of six of the domains on the Interprofessiomnal Collaborator Assessment Rubric (ICAR): Roles and Responsibilities and Communication Strategies. This study also investigated quantitative and qualitative findings related to student perceptions regarding this IPE opportunity. Results: Results indicated that students met or exceeded the minimum competency for the ranking of “developing” for all 6 of the behaviors evaluated. Results also revealed that this half-day extracurricuricular IPE event was viewed favorably by health-professional students and created a venue whereby students belonging to different health professional programs can enter into discussions and learn about each others’ respective roles and responsibilities in patient care. Conclusion: The creation and implementation of short term extracurricular IPE events may be a valuable alternative for healthcare programs that are unable to implement IPE activities due to some of the common barriers impacting the development, implementation, or continuation of IPE opportunities.

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