Background
Since its inception, the University of Michigan (UM) Center for Interprofessional Education (C-IPE) has recognized a 5th IPE competency unique to UM focused on intercultural humility. Originally adopted from a white paper by the UM Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, its definition and application have undergone revisions. Most recently was in response to: the 2023 updates to the national Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competencies and the definition of the UM Core Curriculum to emphasize learning outcomes essential before entering practice-level settings. We aimed to develop sub-competencies that explicitly informed IPE development, encompassing comprehensive awareness of cultural practices, norms, and beliefs allowing learners to develop effective teamwork and decision-making benefitting outcomes of all patient populations.
Methods
In 2019, a task force conducted a scoping review of health sciences literature and accreditation standards to compile uni-professional cultural humility-related competencies. The review informed an updated definition from intercultural intelligence to humility, and thus, core curriculum updates to include content/assessments related to intercultural humility. In 2025, a task force developed sub-competencies capturing expected intercultural humility outcomes at introduce-, reinforce-, and practice-learning levels.
Results
Two core courses (>1500 students annually) were designed to emphasize intercultural humility and assessments measuring students’ competence. Introduction to IPE includes a case of a 16-year-old facing health, educational, and psychosocial challenges including poorly controlled diabetes and grief of a parent’s death, for example. The Longitudinal Interprofessional Family-based Experience includes teams of students interviewing patients living with chronic conditions about navigating the condition, healthcare system, and community resources. Students complete written reflections about their learning experiences from the core. Thematic analyses revealed the core courses fostered awareness of anticipating biases, recognizing peers’ and patients’ social identities, and understanding the value of collaboration with diverse individuals.
The abstract addresses the theme “Preparing Students for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice” by describing intentional competency and curricular development that addresses cultural humility within the interprofessional context. The abstract details the longitudinal process of developing a unique IPE competency, curriculum including assessments to measure the competency, and learning outcomes of students.
This lightning talk will describe the process of developing IPE program specific competencies and appropriate assessments at various learning levels. Specifically, outcomes will be to:
-Describe the process of developing an intercultural humility competency undertaken at an IPE Center
-Understand appropriate learning assessments to measure cultural competence at various learner levels
-Review learner outcomes who met the intercultural humility competency