Background: The Health Education Technology Research Unit (HETRU) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) has developed an interprofessional framework for use as a learning map to create computer-based simulations that can automatically assess interprofessional competencies of undergraduate health sciences students.Methods: Our interprofessional competency framework was developed through an iterative process of competency mapping. Each iteration involved: 1) a literature review of interprofessional competencies, 2) the mapping of these competencies within a meaningful taxonomy, and 3) the review of the mapping by an expert panel of educators and clinicians.
Findings and Conclusions:After three iterations, the research team developed a competency taxonomy that mapped interprofessional competencies from our literature reviews into six competency domains and three cross-cutting themes for each domain. The competency matrix was then used as a learning map to define learning resources related to interprofessional education and learning activities associated with such resources to help students develop competencies in interprofessional healthcare planning and delivery. Interactive, computer-based clinical simulations were then developed to portray opportunities in which the learning resources and activities could be explored and to provide more realistic exposure to complexities in healthcare planning and delivery.Keywords: Interprofessional education; Health sciences; Competencies; Technology Introduction A broad base of recent work has provided new models for exploring the complexity of factors leading to the ineffective articulation of healthcare services [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Worldwide, healthcare services could be improved by providing interprofessional, collaborative, patient-centred care that improves patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Yet, despite the diverse and extensive literature on change management and human resources management, few empirically based models provide the breadth and depth necessary to deal with the complexities of transforming current healthcare systems into care planning and delivery systems that are interprofessional, evidence-based, and cost-effective.Interestingly, the concept of patient-centered care [15] Exploring new ways of providing care has led to the resurgence of interest in interprofessional healthcare collaboration. This interest is due to health system renewal, emerging health and human resource issues, and continuity and co-ordination of care [10]. The belief underlying the support for interprofessional care is that working with members of other professions will result in the provision of more highly integrated, patient-centred care; in addition, the complexity of most health problems requires a co-ordinated approach to understanding and management [19]. Although advocates for interprofessional education have tried to move forward in implementing this approach, one of the most difficult arenas to estab...