Expose Yourself! Starting IP Learners with a Blend of IPEC and Cultural Competencies

Interprofessional education (IPE) requires intentional design for meaningful experiential learning aligned with curricular goals for future practice (El-Awaisi et al, 2016). Such intentionality begins with early exposure to new content or ways of learning about commonly shared content (Kolb, 1984). The exposure phase provides students with positive experiences aimed at building collaborative teamwork skills. A second goal is to accrue academic capital with educators by demonstrating the value IPE brings to both their curricular objectives and in meeting accreditation standards (Hamilton, 2011).

For more than a decade, bimonthly Knowledge Exchange (KE) events have been offered to health professions students at our university. KEs blend contemporary social and healthcare topics with interprofessional competencies that supplement curriculum. KE content is consistent with IPEC sub-competencies (IPEC, 2023) covering topics such as diversity, equity, and cultural humility (Madrak et al, 2023) and those that support quintuple aims such as improving health access, respecting diversity among professions, provider wellness, and addressing power dynamics in the health professions (Nundy et al, 2022). Most include speakers who bring lived experience to the presentation.

KEs are delivered virtually making them accessible to students, faculty, and to statewide health professions communities. Each session includes an experiential segment where students break into small facilitated interprofessional groups to respond to what they have learned, report out their findings, and debrief.Session outline with active learning strategies: This participatory task-oriented small group educational experience for beginner and intermediate IP educators will describe and demonstrate the process of building, operationalizing and assessing an accessible and engaging type of exposure-level activity. Participants will collaboratively design an event appropriate for their setting, (using best practices to develop marketing, promotion, breakout discussions, debriefs and assessments). Participants will also learn about and brainstorm their own strategies for engaging with potential presenters as designers and educators who have lived experience of the chosen topic.