IU IPE Debuts New Options and Improved Flexibility in TEACH Redesign

The Indiana University Interprofessional Practice and Education Center (IU IPE) is excited to announce changes to its Team Education Advancing Collaboration in Healthcare (TEACH) curriculum. Beginning this fall, students and faculty will see increased programming options and more built-in flexibility to TEACH. This enhanced TEACH curriculum will continue to consist of 3 phases: Exposure, Immersion, and Entry-to-Practice. These experiences will still encompass the Interprofessional Education Competency domains of Roles and Responsibilities, Values /Ethics, Interprofessional Communication, and Teams/Teamwork. One of the most significant changes in these phases will be the removal of "Anchor" sessions. The Exposure phase will now be an online experience. Allowing student and facilitator flexibility and the opportunity for students to work with those they would otherwise never interact with from across the state. The Immersion Phase will provide a menu of experience options for learners to practice skills in the IPE competency domains with learners of partner professions as selected by their programs. These options offer greater professional relevance for participating students. The Entry-to-Practice Phase uses a toolkit to assist programs and Schools in identifying the most relevant and real-world collaborative experiences. This phase will capitalize on the existing capstone, clinical rotations, or community-based experiences and provide practicum opportunities for learners to apply and be assessed on learned collaborative skills in an interprofessional context. All TEACH programming will be vetted through the IU IPE Center's new Interprofessional Education Curriculum Committee, comprised of stakeholders from the participating health professions. In addition, all TEACH programming will receive feedback provided by a Student Advisory Committee composed of learners from participating health professions schools. These Committees will enable faculty and students to voice their ideas, concerns and provide input on the TEACH program for continuous quality improvement in IU's interprofessional education and practice offerings. These changes result from a 5-year program evaluation to review student and faculty outcomes of the TEACH curriculum and assess the effectiveness of the IU IPE organizational structure. The review was conducted by a nine-member Health Sciences Evaluation Team representing each of the IU health sciences schools.