IPE is defined as occasions when two or more healthcare professionals learn with, from, and about each other in order to improve collaboration and the quality of care. The RCSI has initiated a number of IPE initiatives across its campuses, involving students of medicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy and nursing.
Speaking today to the <em><strong>Medical Independent (MI)</strong></em> at a special session on IPE at the RCSI, Prof Hill said medical graduates work in “a team based entity”, therefore it is important that their training reflects this.
Prof Hill agreed it was an area the Irish Medical Council was emphasising, in respect of accreditation of undergraduate medical degree programmes. He said this was the case with medical regulatory bodies around the world.
“It is the way of the future and it should have been the way of the past,” he told <em><strong>MI</strong></em>. “I think it is going to be more and more an intrinsic part of education.”
Prof Hill said one of the College’s key strategies, in this area, was the appointment in 2014 of Dr Frances Horgan as Vice-Dean for IPE, as a means of enhancing IPE among all of the students of healthcare professions at the College.
Dr Horgan also presented at the conference, which included national and international speakers.
<em>*For full coverage of the RCSI symposium on IPE, held during its fourth annual International Education Forum (22-26 June), please see the Medical Independent on 9 July next.</em>
