Executive Summary

Building Capacity in Interprofessional Health Professions Education

At a time when the world faces significant health worker shortages, there are clear concerns about the healthcare workforce both in terms of sheer numbers and the capacity to deliver efficient coordinated care, especially in settings where resources are limited. Recent Lancet Commission and WHO reports noted that interprofessional education and collaboration have the potential to ease strains on both high income and low to middle income health systems by consolidating resources and preparing professionals to better respond to local healthcare needs through collaborative practice.

The MGH Institute of Health Professions (MGH IHP) in the U.S. and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in India will implement an innovative bi-directional global program for health professions educators, administrators, and graduate students. The program will elucidate the major conceptual and philosophical tenets of interprofessional education (IPE) pedagogy. It will support two cohorts of faculty from MAHE to matriculate into the online Health Professions Education, Teaching and Learning Certificate. This is an interprofessional program that immerses health professions educators from around the world into the foundations of instructional design, assessment techniques, and simulation learning. Additional activities will include faculty exchanges that focus on the key components of interprofessional education and collaboration, e.g. clinical education at dedicated IP in-patient units, IP simulation and debriefing, and IP team-based learning. These activities will be coordinated with the Manipal-FAIMER Institute for Leadership in Interprofessional Education (M-FILIPE).

The support from the U.S.-India 21st Century Knowledge Initiative Grant will allow health professions educators from both countries to evaluate and update curricula and instructional techniques that can increase learning efficacy. It will also contribute to sustainable faculty development models in each organization that will foster improved interprofessional collaboration and strategic alliances for training and research capacity.