Using narrative to integrate anti-oppression into interprofessional collaborative practice competencies

Many institutions of higher education have designed curricula for health professions learners based on the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice. As part of a periodic cycle of revision, in 2023, IPEC released revised competencies that, for the first time, explicitly embedded concepts of anti-oppressive practice. Curriculum designers seeking to revise their interprofessional learning activities to map onto the new competencies can benefit from the experience of a health professions graduate school in Boston, MA. Since 2021, faculty members and experts in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion have revamped a required interprofessional education curriculum to include anti-oppression competencies. They targeted narrative elements of the courses like a common reading, case studies, and simulation scenarios for revision. By using narrative to introduce anti-oppression competencies like recognizing bias, analyzing systems of power, and intervening to mitigate microaggressions, course designers encouraged learners to cultivate reflection about their relationship to the care team, the patient, and the community.