Quality Improvement in Healthcare: Interprofessional Collaborative Practice

In the U.S's fragmented health care system, the importance of partnerships between professionals of different aspects of medical care has become increasingly evident. Interprofessional education, or IPE, teaches future medical professionals how to improve their communication with professionals of different health care careers. This interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP) could mean something as common as a hospitalist talking with a nurse about their patient's condition before they start their shift. It could also be several specialists working together to treat a patient who has disparate diseases that call for conflicting treatments. ICP and IPE improves population health, policymaking, and patient health overall.

Below are organizations, online resources, and e-journals which center around and educate on the practice of interprofessional collaboration, its use, and its efficacy.