Advancing Interprofessional Education and Practice Through Health Equity Competencies

A commitment to interprofessional collaboration emphasizes the important role of each discipline in team-based care, as well as health equity or the attainment of the highest level of health for all people. In pursuit of high quality interprofessional education, we must shape and sustain inclusive learning environments where all feel valued, engaged, and respected. Students entering the health professions need to understand inequities that present at personal, institutional, and societal levels, and reflect on their intersectionality, including how they impact health outcomes. Infusing health equity competencies into interprofessional education can equip future healthcare professionals to address inequities in healthcare delivery.Implementation: This presentation will share best practices in interprofessional education (IPE), grounded in core health equity values and skill sets. It aims to demonstrate how interprofessional teams trained to address social determinants of health are better prepared to tackle inequities, critically analyze systems they inhabit, and attend to the whole patient (Cahn, 2020). The authors will showcase several exemplar IPE pedagogies implemented at a leading U.S. health professions graduate school, encompassing programs for genetic counselors, health administrators, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, physician assistants, and speech language pathologists. Pedagogies include a required Health Equity program, a pre-matriculation Common Reading Program, and interprofessional simulations rooted in narrative inquiry. Evaluation plan: Evaluation to date includes measures of competency integration, changes in learning assessment artifacts, increases in faculty competence and confidence in the ability to teach and integrate health equity content, and increases in faculty / student perceived support.Outcome(s) and significance: This work offers insights that advance the future of IPE, underscoring the transformative potential of infusing health equity skill sets in interprofessional education with the goal of enhancing quality care. Practical tools, challenges, opportunities, and select program outcomes will be shared.