Sustainable Implementation of Interprofessional Education Using an Adoption Model Framework

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) is a growing focus for educators in health professional academic programs. Recommendations to successfully implement IPE are emerging in the literature, but there remains a dearth of evidence informing the bigger challenges of sustainability and scalability. Transformation to interprofessional education for collaborative person-centred practice (IECPCP) is complex and requires “harmonization of motivations” within and between academia, governments, healthcare delivery sectors, and consumers. The main lesson learned at the University of Manitoba was the value of using a formal implementation framework to guide its work. This framework identifies key factors that must be addressed at the micro, meso, and macro levels and emphasizes that interventions occurring only at any single level will likely not lead to sustainable change. This paper describes lessons learned when using the framework and offers recommendations to support other institutions in their efforts to enable the roll out and integration of IECPCP.