The Interprofessional Internship Program (IIP) at the University of Minnesota is an innovative internship model targeting students’ interprofessional competencies through hands-on, partnered engagement with community organizations to solve real-world challenges. Over its first five years, the program supported 36 projects with 19 community organizations and involved 69 students from 24 academic programs. Intern teams co-developed solutions addressing health workforce shortages, systems improvement, and rural healthcare issues. The IIP model incorporated direct mentorship, interprofessional teamwork, structured reflection exercises, and continuous assessment. Notable outcomes include significant intern growth in key interprofessional competencies and progress solving pressing challenges for partner organizations. This project demonstrates a replicable model for connecting creative health sciences learners to solve real-world problems while gaining interprofessional collaborative competencies needed when they join the workforce.
Faculty project partner liaison's and a student intern participant will both co-present, sharing their perspectives on this interprofessional community-based internship. The student intern will also share insights on how the program fostered personal and professional growth.
After attending this session, attendees will be able to:
1. Identify the goals of the interprofessional internship program at the University of Minnesota and the real-world problems the program aims to address
2. Explain the impact of the interprofessional internship on both student development and community partner outcomes.
3. Describe how the interprofessional internship model can be replicated in other academic/community settings to support interprofessional education and workforce readiness.
This lightning talk fulfills multiple priority criteria, including:
1. Highlight interprofessional collaboration ( authentic teamwork across at least two professions)
2.Involve learner as authors and presenters
3.Address Health equity or underserved populations
4.Demonstrate replicability and innovation (sharing programs that others could adopt, providing evidence of the impact)
