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. 2010 Nov 25:1:75-84.
doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S13207. Print 2010.

Interprofessional education: a concept analysis

Maria Olenick  1 , Lois Ryan Allen, Raymond A Smego Jr
Affiliations

Interprofessional education: a concept analysis

Maria Olenick et al. Adv Med Educ Pract. .

Abstract

Interprofessional education is broadly defined as a teaching and learning process that fosters collaborative work between two or more health care professions. Interprofessional education, as a proven, beneficial approach to collaborative learning that addresses the problems of fragmentation in health care delivery and separation among health care professionals, is frequently promulgated but not always successfully implemented. Furthermore, there are several different interpretations, overlapping terminologies, interchangeable terms, and a lack of uniformity of a definition for interprofessional education. This concept analysis determines the attributes and characteristics of interprofessional education, develops an operational definition that fits all health-related disciplines, defines common goals, and improves overall clarity, consensus, consistency, and understanding of interprofessional education among educators, professionals, and researchers. Through effective incorporation of interprofessional education into curricular and practice settings, optimal patient-centered outcomes can potentially result as effective and highly integrated teams facilitate and optimize collaborative patient care and safety.

Keywords: collaborative learning; curriculum; health care services; health professions education; patient care.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Iterative “color wheel” concept map for interprofessional education (IPE).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Illustration of operationalized terms related to interprofessional education (IPE0).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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