Introducing our new Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) Guides – A series of papers which aim to provide practical advice and support for colleagues engaged in designing, developing, assessing and evaluating interprofessional education and practice.
The first guide by Les Hall and Brenda Zierler is entitled ‘Developing faculty to effectively facilitate interprofessional education’. The guide draws on the authors’ experience of develoing and implementing a faculty development program to prepare leaders for interprofessional education. Using a variety of techniques, including didactic teaching, small group exercises, immersion participation in interprofessional education, local implementation of new IPE projects, and peer learning, the program positioned each site to successfully introduce an interprofessional innovation. Participating faculty confirmed the value of the program, and suggested that more widespread similar efforts were worthwhile.
Based on this work, the first IPEP guide identifies a range of key lessons learned from this initiative, including:
- Peer learning arising from a faculty development community
- Adaptation of curricula to fit local context
- Experiential learning
- Ongoing coaching/mentoring
Each lesson is described and discussed. Collectively, these lessons provide the key elements needed for the delivery of effective interprofessional faculty development.