The Future Health Care Workforce: Interprofessional Education in Community Settings

As health systems continue to evolve, health professions schools strive to prepare graduates for future practice within dynamic health care delivery systems. Each individual field strives to develop future health professionals who can successfully work together with other health care professionals through interprofessional collaborative practice. Acquiring these interprofessional competencies is essential to the delivery of safe, high quality, accessible and person-centered care that is expected. The World Health Organization defines interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) as occurring “when multiple health workers from different backgrounds work together with patients, families, caregivers and communities who deliver the highest quality of care” [1]. Interprofessional education is defined by the World Health Organization as “When students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes” [1]. In many cases within local communities, successful public health practitioners utilize these behaviors. In these settings a team of health professionals cares for entire communities, through a reliance on collaboration and coordination by various health professionals, each utilizing their own unique skill sets.