Collaborating for success: empowering medical professionals through interprofessional education

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) refers to training activities to foster collaborative learning among students from different healthcare professions with the intention to augment the quality of patient care activities. Interprofessional education has been linked with significant impact and accounts for significant benefits that it adds to patient care, healthcare professionals, and even the healthcare delivery system as a whole. Medical institutions that are planning to introduce interprofessional education within their settings must adopt a structured framework to ensure effective delivery of IPE that can train students to develop the required set of skills and competencies that are essential for patient-centered practice. A wide range of challenges has been identified that can impact the implementation of effective IPE in a medical college. There is an immense need to overcome these challenges to facilitate IPE by creating an enabling environment that supports interprofessional collaboration. In conclusion, interprofessional education has a special place in the medical education delivery, as it has the potential to encourage collaborative practice, patient-centered care, and effective teamwork among different types of healthcare professionals. Thus, it is the need of the hour that each medical institution should explore opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and adequately prepare their students for the complexities of modern healthcare.