What is interprofessional education?

According to the World Health Organization, interprofessional education occurs when two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.

IPEP at Carolina Nursing

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is unique for having top-ranked schools for all five health professions — nursing, medicinepharmacydentistry and public health — within steps of each other and adjacent to UNC Hospitals, the School of Social Work, and the Health Sciences Library, fostering a highly collaborative learning and research environment for students and faculty across the health professions.

A national leader in interprofessional education and practice (IPEP), the UNC School of Nursing is part of a campus-wide initiative for the intentional integration of interprofessional learning and collaboration led by the Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice (OIPEP), which

Schools that are part of this partnership include the schools of Business, Dentistry, Education, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Social Work; the department of Allied Health; and the Health Sciences Library.

The School boasts the Education-Innovation-Simulation-Learning-Environment (EISLE), which provides clinical practice and IPE opportunities for our nursing students. Directed by Carol Durham, an expert in the field of clinical simulation and a past president of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation & Learning, EISLE serves as a model for clinical training and IPE programs worldwide.

Macy Faculty Scholar and IPE expert, Dr. Meg Zomorodi, serves as UNC’s Associate Provost for Interprofessional Health Initiatives and directs the UNC Rural Interprofessional Health Initiative for all of UNC Health Affairs. Dr. Jennifer Alderman serves as the UNC School of Nursing’s IPEP Director.