Interprofessional education is the act of being trained to work with professions outside your area of study. For a nurse, interprofessional education could mean training to work with social workers and pharmacists. For a doctor, it could mean training to work with a physician assistant and dentists.
A patient often has complex needs that someone from one specific profession cannot meet. Taking individuals from different professions and training them to collaborate with the patient as a team has been shown to improve patients' lives and increase job satisfaction amongst healthcare providers.
IU IPEs’ goal is to ensure every IU student who experiences the TEACH curriculum is prepared for real-world situations where they will work with others from both health and social care professions to ensure individuals seeking care receive effective, person-centered care.