As evidence mounts for the positive patient and workforce outcomes of interprofessional education (IPE), educators must not only offer comprehensive instruction of IPEC competencies but also nurture the next generation in IPE leadership and scholarship. To achieve this latter goal, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (UW CIPE), in collaboration with its ten program/school partners, developed the longitudinal UW Interprofessional Practice and Education Path of Distinction (UW IPE PoD) Program (https://cipe.wisc.edu/education/#pod).
The UW IPE PoD Program provides students with opportunities to advance their IPE learning, practice, leadership, and research toward becoming interprofessional practitioners through didactics, simulations, clinical/community placements, research, and leadership opportunities that supplements their program-specific education. The UW IPE PoD is awarded by UW CIPE to health/social care program students who complete this longitudinal IPE program to gain knowledge and skills in interprofessional competencies, engage in scholarly work, and to become interprofessional practitioners as future healthcare team members and leaders.
Now entering and celebrating its fifth year, the UW IPE PoD Program has awarded 17 student candidates from nine different health and social care disciplines with the prestigious designation. The popularity and continued growth of the program, along with evolution in the field of IPE, has necessitated changes to program operations and innovative learning experiences; the logistics of which will be the focus of this Lightning Talk.
This Lightning Talk will provide a brief overview of CIPE’s implementation of its IPE PoD program, followed by an engaging discussion of the challenges of sustaining and growing this program over time. Participants will furthermore learn from a current UW IPE PoD student about the practical experience of completing the program during their doctoral training and applying IPE practice to a future career in Veterinary Medicine. Presenters will spotlight opportunities and challenges in scaling up an IPE Path of Distinction (PoD) program and share lessons learned across years of PoD program management through survey response data and student testimonials.
