Developing Meaningful and Flexible Interprofessional Values & Ethics Curriculum

Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice is addressed less frequently in the published literature than the other IPEC Core Competencies of Roles and Responsibilities, Interprofessional Communication, and Teams and Teamwork. This may reflect a dearth of efforts to fully integrate this competency into interprofessional curricula. Such a deficiency is problematic in that managing complex ethical situations while maintaining mutual respect and common values is a substantial challenge, particularly across professions.

To address this, an interprofessional team from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health developed and piloted "Interprofessional Social & Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare" in Spring 2021. The online pilot was implemented in asynchronous and synchronous formats. It fostered interprofessional teamwork and student leadership using case-based learning to address real-world ethical, social, and moral conflicts in healthcare. Cases covered a wide range of topics including cultural differences, professionalism, informed consent, immigration issues, and patients' rights. Student assessment was based on a modified Interprofessional Collaborator Assessment Rubric (ICAR). Program developers also evaluated the course for proof-of-concept, satisfaction, and attainment of core competencies. Given the pilot participants’ reported increase in knowledge about ethical decision-making and greater appreciation for a team approach, the content was integrated into the curricula of participating colleges for the first time in Spring 2022. This latest offering was modified based on pilot participant feedback, and improvement processes continue.

The focus of this seminar will be on empowering participants to develop online curricular content related to Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice at their own institutions. The seminar is aligned with the Nexus 2022 theme of Interprofessional Learning for Collaborative Practice and Education by showcasing curriculum development through the lens of the IPEC Core Competency of Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice. Practical knowledge will include empirical findings from the pilot and integrated educational experiences from the perspective of faculty, staff, and students with an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Actionable skills will include the development of interprofessional cases and related questions focused on ethical issues for one’s own academic environment. Active learning strategies will include liberating structures such as small group discussion, brainstorming, and case scenarios to ensure participant engagement.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to:
articulate key features of developing interprofessional cases and related discussion questions focused on ethical, social, and moral conflicts;
identify challenges and enablers to implementing curricula using the program’s format of asynchronous and synchronous learning; and
apply lessons learned from a pilot study and initial offering of Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice curricular content.