international journal of medical informatics 78S ( 2 0 0 9 ) S43–S47 journal homepage: www.intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/ijmi Promoting interprofessional education in health sector within the European Interprofessional Education Network Joseph Liaskos a,* , Antonis Frigas a , Konstantinos Antypas a , Dimitrios Zikos a,* , Marianna Diomidous b , John Mantas a a Health Informatics Laboratory, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens, Greece b Clinical Epidemiology Laboratory, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens, Greece article info Article history: Received 20 February 2008 Accepted 8 August 2008 Keywords: Education Professional education Interprofessional education Multi-professional learning abstract According to a common definition, interprofessional education (IPE) is described as “occasions when two or more professions learn from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care”. The Leonardo project under the name European Inter- professional Education Network (EIPEN) in health and social care, has been dealing with the challenges of interprofessional education. The EIPEN project tries to develop a transnational network of universities and employers in the six participating countries and at the same time to promote good practices in interprofessional learning and teaching in health and social care. IPE provides opportunities for students and practitioners to learn with, from and about each other during qualifying and post-qualifying training and in their practice. IPE in health and social care includes the education and training of practitioners in human and animal medicine, dentistry, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy and all other health professions including public and environmental health and health pro- motion, and social work. The outcomes of the EIPEN Project will provide means, material and guidelines for the enhancement of professional education in the multi-disciplinary field of Health Informatics. The methodology on the development of the Greek Interprofessional Network was based on a series of workshops aiming to document the educational process in healthcare institutes and universities followed by the assessment of the needs for the devel- opment of an interprofessional environment. The outcomes will provide means, material and guidelines for the enhancement of professional education in the multi-disciplinary field of Health Informatics. © 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction According to the World Health Organization (WHO) inter- professional education (IPE) is identified [1] as an important component of primary health care. The interprofessional edu- cation definition as given by Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) in 1997 [2] describes IPE ∗ Corresponding authors at: University of Athens, Faculty of Nursing, 123 Papadiamantopoulou Street, Athens 115 27, Greece. Tel.: +30 2107461446; fax: +30 2107461491. E-mail addresses: iliaskos@nurs.uoa.gr (J. Liaskos), dimitriszikos@gmail.com (D. Zikos). as: “occasions when two or more professions learn from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care”. The term multi-professional education is also used to describe occasions when two or more professions learn side by side for whatever reason. The term interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary education or collaboration is referred to the combination and involvement of an assignment 1386-5056/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2008.08.001