Collaborating across borders: an American-Canadian dialogue on interprofessional health education

For more than 35 years, interprofessional collaboration across the health and human service professions has been promoted as an important means to advance patient- or client-centered practice. Evidence demonstrates that collaborative care in certain circumstances can be more effective and efficient than other models. Over the past decade, in response to national calls to action, American and Canadian health and human service professionals and educators have renewed their focus on interprofessional education (IPE). As a result, recent investments have been made, and many interprofessional initiatives in higher education and health systems are underway to improve learning and health outcomes. These efforts are resulting in new evidence about student learning outcomes, team care and collaboration, lessons learned, curricular design, faculty development, and assessment and evaluation strategies. In spite of these efforts, there is a question as to whether much has really changed about the way health professionals are educated. In an effort to address the issue from an international perspective, professionals from a number of countries have been collaborating and sharing ideas on how to improve the situation. A very important effort is now being planned for an American-Canadian conference to be held October 24-26, 2007 at the University of Minnesota. Called Collaborating Across Borders: An American-Canadian Dialogue on Interprofessional Health Education, the conference will bring together leaders in the field to share best practices and chart a course to improve collaboration in health care.