Advancing Teamwork in Health Care Through Continuing Education Joint Accreditation

Abstract

Teamwork is a necessity for effective care of patients in the current health care environment. Continuing education providers are best positioned to teach health care professionals about teamwork. However, health care professionals and continuing education providers largely operate in single-profession–based environments and thus need to change their programs and activities to achieve team improvement education goals. Joint Accreditation (JA) for Interprofessional Continuing Education is designed to advance teamwork to improve quality care through education programs. However, achieving JA requires significant changes to an education program that are multifaceted and complex to implement. Although challenging, implementation of JA is an effective way to advance interprofessional continuing education. Here, we discuss numerous practical strategies that can aid education programs to prepare for and achieve JA, such as attaining organizational alignment and provider adaptation to expand curriculums, reinventing the education planning process, and implementing tools to help manage the joint accredited program.