Interprofessional Education (IPE)

The mission of Florida Atlantic University’s Interprofessional Education (IPE) program (2011-2016) is to enhance the well-being of the community by facilitating team-based care within a collaborative practice framework. An IPE program involves students from two or more professions learning about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.  IPE occurs when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, caregivers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care. The Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (2011) include coming to understand each other’s roles, responsibilities, ethics, communication, and teamwork that provide the foundation for FAU’s IPE. 

Participating in the program are first year medical students from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, traditional and accelerated nursing students from the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, and Masters’ of Social Work students from the College for Design and Social Inquiry’s School of Social Work along with faculty who serve as facilitators.  FAU’s IPE program consists of two components: Three Interprofessional Education Development Sessions (IPEDS) to learn interactively in small teams for interprofessional team-based care with case scenarios.  The second component, which is quite unique and innovative, consists of three Senior Aging Geriatrics Education (SAGE) mentor visits where student teams meet throughout the academic year with a volunteer older person in the community to take a background history, to give a series of geriatric assessments, and to assess home safety risks.  The sessions require students to acquire knowledge and skill development while the mentor visits provide a practical experience where students learn about healthy aging through applying their evolving knowledge and skills. FAU’s IPE program is goal and outcome driven with a desire to prepare all health profession students for deliberatively working together. A common goal is building a safer and better patient-centered health care system. 

For more information, please contact Dr. Terry Eggenberger , Executive Director of Interprofessional Education.

Office of the Provost IPE website.

College of Social Work and Criminal Justice: School of Social Work IPE website.