Accreditation as a driver of interprofessional education: the Canadian experience

The purpose of this study was to (1) explore evidence provided by Canadian health and social care (HASC) academic programs in meeting their profession-specific interprofessional education (IPE)-relevant accreditation standards; (2) share successes, exemplars, and challenges experienced by HASC academic programs in meeting their IPE-relevant accreditation standards; and (3) articulate the impacts of IPE-relevant accreditation standards on enabling interprofessional learning to the global HASC academic community.

Profession-specific (bilingual, if requested) surveys were developed and emailed to the Deans/Academic Program Directors of eligible academic programs with a request to forward to the individual who oversees IPE accreditation. Responses were collated collectively and by profession. Open-ended responses associated with our first objective were deductively categorized to align with the five Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Education (AIPHE) standards domains. Responses to our additional questions associated with our second and third objectives were inductively categorized into themes.

Of the 270 HASC academic programs surveyed, 30% (n = 24) partially or completely responded to our questions. Of the 106 IPE-relevant standards where evidence was provided, 62% (n = 66) focused on the Educational Program, 88% of which (n = 58) were either met or partially met, and 47% (n = 31) of which focused on practice-based IPE. Respondents cited various exemplars and challenges in meeting IPE-relevant standards.

The overall sentiment was that IPE accreditation was a significant driver of the IPE curriculum and its continuous improvement. The array of exemplars described in this paper may be of relevance in advancing IPE implementation and accreditation across Canada and perhaps, more importantly, in countries where these processes are yet emerging.