Integrated Curriculum
Under the umbrella of UBC Health, the health professional programs at the University of British Columbia have implemented an integrated approach to health professional education that supports learning that is unique to each profession; seeks economies of scale for foundational knowledge common to all programs through technology; creates relevant opportunities for interprofessional learning in complex areas of healthcare; and supports programs to meet accreditation standards related to interprofessional education in a meaningful way (interprofessional competencies shown in surrounding spheres) around content areas that benefit from a collaborative approach (shown in the inner circle of the diagram).
Key principles are integrated throughout each activity (shown in the outside circle of the diagram). Integrated topics are delivered in an order that makes sense and builds learning across sessions. The integrated curriculum is designed to ensure interprofessional learning is not an add-on, but a meaningful, required component of students’ programs.
Background
The National Interprofessional Competency Framework, developed by the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, was used as a foundation for the development of the Integrated Curriculum. UBC, through the College of Health Disciplines, contributed to the development of this framework (Bainbridge et al., 2010), particularly through the development of the BC Interprofessional Competency Framework (Wood et al., 2009) that was used as a basis for the National Framework. The National Framework identifies six competency domains: Interprofessional Communication; Patient-Centred Care; Role Clarification; Team Functioning; Conflict Management; and Collaborative Leadership. The goal of the Integrated Curriculum is to ensure that all health professional students at UBC build each of these competencies.
References
Bainbridge, L., Nasmith, L., Orchard, C., & Wood, V. (2010). Competencies for interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 24(1), 6-11.
Wood, V., Flavell, A., Vanstolk, D., Bainbridge, L., & Nasmith, L. (2009). The road to collaboration: Developing an interprofessional competency framework. Journal of interprofessional care, 23(6), 621-629.