Top Clin Nutr
Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 196–204
Copyright
c 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluation of Interprofessional
Education Implementation
Among Nutrition Program
Directors in the United States
Zena Patton, MEd, MPH; Marlo Vernon, MPH;
Kelsey Haymond, MS; Judith Anglin, PhD;
Vah´ e Heboyan, PhD; Gianluca De Leo, PhD
Interprofessional education (IPE) promotes multidisciplinary learning to encourage team collabora-
tion and improved patient outcomes. This study investigates the beliefs, application, and structure
of IPE within programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and
Dietetics. An online survey was sent to nutrition program directors. Respondents agreed with
the core values of IPE and the benefits they present. Communication ranked significantly differ-
ent as an IPE competency by not-for-profit versus for-profit and among differing program types
(didactic, coordinated, internship). Nutrition program directors support the idea of IPE but have
not yet translated this into effective implementation. Key words: interprofessional education,
nutrition/dietetics, nutrition faculty, online survey, program accreditation
T
HE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
defines interprofessional education (IPE)
as a practice that occurs when students from
2 or more professions learn from one another
to enable effective collaboration and im-
proved patient outcomes.
1
Interprofessional
education works to move health care systems
toward team-based care rather than isolated
specialty care. The Institute of Medicine has
Author Affiliations: Children’s Hospital of Atlanta,
Atlanta, Georgia (Ms Patton); and Department of
Clinical and Digital Health Sciences, Augusta
University, College of Allied Health Sciences,
Augusta, Georgia (Mss Vernon, Patton, and
Haymond and Drs Anglin, Heboyan, and De Leo).
The authors have disclosed that they have no signif-
icant relationships with, or financial interest in, any
commercial companies pertaining to this article.
Correspondence: Marlo Vernon, MPH, Department of
Clinical and Digital Health Sciences, Augusta Univer-
sity, College of Allied Health Sciences, 1120 15th St, EB-
1024, Augusta, GA 30912 (mvernon@augusta.edu).
DOI: 10.1097/TIN.0000000000000143
endorsed IPE and in 2003 stated: “patients
received safer, high quality care when health
care professionals worked effectively in
a team, communicated productively, and
understood each others’ roles.”
2
In the
United States, the outcome of the World
Health Organization call to action is a collab-
orative consisting of 6 national professional
education–accrediting bodies known as the
Interprofessional Education Collaborative
(IPEC). Members of the American health care
education–accrediting bodies include Amer-
ican Dental Education Association, American
Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Amer-
ican Association of Colleges of Nursing, Col-
leges of Osteopathic Medicine, Association of
American Medical Colleges, and Association
of Schools & Programs of Public Health. The
Interprofessional Education Collaborative was
established to address the gaps in knowledge
and practice among health care professionals.
An IPEC expert panel established 4 core
competencies in 2011 for interprofessional
Copyright © 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
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