About Us
The University of Toledo has been an innovative leader in addressing interprofessional education for health sciences students.
Both faculty and students have presented information at national conferences, spoken at other educational institutions, and published articles based on UToledo’s IPE activities.
In 2014, based upon the results of a pilot and a mandate from the President and the Health Sciences Deans, the University of Toledo implemented a large-scale interprofessional education (IPE) program which is currently required for 8 health professions (with an additional 2 professions enrolling some of their students).
Professions involved in UToledo's IPE include:
- Medicine
- Nursing
- Occupational Therapy
- Pharmacy
- Physical Therapy
- Physician Assistant Studies
- Public Health
- Respiratory Care
- Social Work
- Speech Language Pathology
For many of these programs, IPE is an accreditation requirement.
Our Method
Our Interprofessional Education Program (IPE) is a yearlong; two semester course. The goal of the program is for students to gain an understanding and appreciation of the roles and scope of practice of different professions; the impact of “team” on patient care and quality improvement; and the importance of the IPEC Core Competencies.
Students will meet during the fall semester on selected Friday afternoons set aside for IPE, please refer to your Blackboard for those dates. The course is taught by an Interprofessional (IP) faculty group in 48 small IP teams of 11- 12 students. The course is experiential, case-based and includes simulations. Components of the course include: interprofessional (IP) team simulations, team communications, standardized patient interviews, IP care planning exercises, vital signs training in IP groups, social determinants of health, roles/responsibilities, and a hands-on session focused on patient safety hazards.
In our Spring Semester most of the professions require students to conduct one interprofessional simulation in which students work in an IP team to participate in a simulation with a high-fidelity simulator. Simulation scenarios are designed to building upon skills taught in the fall semester and reinforce team communication.