Practical and Actionable Strategies for High‑Quality Interprofessional Education

Interprofessional education (IPE) is a curricular requirement for most health professions programs and is widely endorsed by accrediting bodies and professional organizations. Attributes taught through IPE – particularly teamwork and communication – are associated with improved patient outcomes and healthcare professional wellbeing. Despite this growing body of evidence, IPE initiatives are often underfunded, inconsistently implemented, and questioned by learners who may struggle to see their relevance. Medical and health professions educators require practical, evidence-informed strategies to develop effective IPE that learners perceive as valuable and applicable to practice. The following are three implementable and research‑supported strategies to enhance both the quality and perception of IPE for health professions learners. 

1. Use theoretical frameworks to anchor learning experiences 
   Theoretical frameworks can be used to develop IPE just as they are applied to other medical and health professions education endeavors. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) creates core competencies endorsed by 22 professional associations, collectively representing the majority of health professions education programs in the United States. These competencies – Roles and Responsibilities, Communication, Values and Ethics, and Teams and Teamwork – provide a shared language and structure for designing, implementing, and evaluating IPE experiences across disciplines.  
   
   Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (Team STEPPS), is another evidence-based framework that serves as a strong foundation for IPE. TeamSTEPPS is designed to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare by intentionally strengthening teamwork competencies such as communication, leadership, situation monitoring, and mutual support. When used in IPE, TeamSTEPPS can provide learners with practical, transferable tools that reinforce collaborative behaviors essential for safe, team‑based patient care.
    
2. Integrate high-fidelity simulation into IPE experiences 
   Simulation, which is commonly used in single-discipline medical and health professions education, can be effectively leveraged within IPE. Learners consistently report that the realism of high-fidelity simulation fosters deeper engagement in IPE activities, while simulation-based IPE improves teamwork, communication, and role clarity among health professions learners. Team-based interaction with simulated patients is frequently cited as a highlight of IPE experiences with learners attributing simulation to increased confidence in patient care and collaborative decision-making. 
   
   Logistical constraints may limit the incorporation of simulation into IPE curricula. A common barrier is the need to deliver IPE virtually in order to accommodate learners distributed across multiple campuses and institutions, as well as large cohorts for which adequate physical space is unavailable. However, technology-enhanced simulation has been successfully employed to engage learners through virtual simulated patient encounters, including team-based telehealth visits, with outcomes comparable to in-person formats. 
   
   Budgetary constraints present another challenge, as simulated patients typically require compensation and costs may increase with learner volume. Economical approaches have addressed this concern by leveraging a single simulated patient for ~1 hour to meaningfully engage large cohorts of interprofessional learners in a simulated telehealth visit.
    
3. Support faculty development in IPE 
   Effective IPE depends heavily on faculty readiness to facilitate interprofessional learning, not just subject‑matter expertise. Better practice calls for intentional faculty development that prepares educators to recognize and manage power dynamics and model authentic collaboration. Without this preparation, facilitation can unintentionally reinforce hierarchy, limit participation, and dilute the collaborative intent of IPE. Evidence consistently shows that faculty who are trained to surface professional differences, encourage equitable contribution, and demonstrate respect across roles are better able to support meaningful interprofessional learning and competency development.
   
   Of high importance is preparing faculty to facilitate psychologically safe interprofessional dialogue. IPE requires learners to speak across professional identities, negotiate roles, and challenge assumptions—activities that can feel vulnerable. Studies show that inadequate facilitation often leads to learner frustration, disengagement, and missed learning outcomes, even when curricula are well designed. In contrast, faculty who are skilled in creating psychologically safe spaces—where questions, uncertainty, and respectful disagreement are welcomed—are more likely to achieve the behavioral, teamwork, and attitudinal outcomes that define effective IPE. As such, faculty development is not an optional enhancement but a core, evidence‑based requirement for successful IPE.
   
   IPE will continue to be required in health professions training, and its value will be fully realized when it is designed with intention, supported by evidence, and resourced accordingly. Grounding IPE in established frameworks, engaging learners through authentic experiences such as simulation, and preparing faculty to facilitate equitable, psychologically safe collaboration can shift IPE from a perceived obligation to a meaningful learning experience that prepares students for real‑world team‑based care. Medical and health professions educators can take action now by starting small—aligning existing activities with interprofessional competencies, piloting scalable simulation approaches, or investing in targeted faculty development—recognizing that even modest, evidence‑informed changes have the potential to strengthen learner outcomes and ultimately the quality of patient care.

#MedEdPearls are developed monthly by the Health Professions Educator Developers on Educational Affairs. Previously, #MedEdPearls explored similar topics, including elevating emotional intelligence, using rapid prototyping, and professional identity formation.