Inter-Professional Education: A Reflection on Education of Health Disciplines

The quality of education and its output in the health care services has been strongly considered by educational policymakers and managers. The development of inter-professional collaboration has been identified as an influential strategy to socialize learners in various health care professionals. Sharing knowledge and experiences in Inter-Professional Education (IPE) provides health care students with opportunities to learn inter-professional interactions for their future health care services. This paper aims to present the trajectory of IPE through a systematic search. It defines relevant terminology of IPE followed by drawing the history of IPE especially in pioneer countries. The role of World Health Organization, national and international bodies in such development also are presented. Various internal and external levers enforcing investment on the improvement of inter-professional collaboration are scrutinized. Different evidence-based advantages of IPE and its theoretical basis will be addressed.. Also various models of IPE initiatives utilized around the world are summarized. The paper comes to the end with the history of IPE and its development in Islamic Republic of Iran.