Facilitating and Promoting Interprofessional Collaboration using IPECT

In the Inter-Professional Education (IPE) world there are a lot of things that start with “IPE” and IPECT is one of them! In this post, we outline some of the features of “IPECT”, how it is used in IPE here at the University of Saskatchewan to support collaboration, and how and where you can learn more about IPECT.

By Sheryl Mills and Getahun Lombamo

What is this “IPECT” thing?!

IPECT is short for “Inter-Professional Education Competency Tracker”. It is an online learning platform purpose-built to support interprofessional education (IPE). IPECT was developed in collaboration with faculty, instructors, learners, and staff to meet a very specific need. IPECT makes organizing and hosting IPE events for hundreds of learners across the Health Sciences simpler and more effective. IPECT is a common platform for all USask Health Sciences’ learners.

Why IPECT is used by USask Health Sciences?

One of the elements that contribute to team success is sharing a “common language.” IPECT is one of the elements in our “shared language, shared experience” initiative. To create shared experiences and to help develop a common language, the Health Sciences IPE Team (IPE team) manages centralized events, offers IPE resources, and provides IPE-related microlearning challenges. You can read more about the USask Health Sciences IPE Team at http://www.healthsciences.usask.ca/education-and-research/interprofessional-education.php#IPELearningPlatform.

IPECT is learner-focused. It provides information to learners about their interprofessional competency development using the the CIHC competencies. These are the competencies for interprofessionalism that programs use and around which all centrally coordinated events are targeted. The competencies are (1) team functioning, (2) role clarification, (3) person-centered care, (4) negotiation and conflict resolution, (5) interprofessional communication, and (6) collaborative leadership. You can learn more about the competencies by visiting https://www.mcgill.ca/ipeoffice/ipe-curriculum/cihc-framework.

IPECT also acts as a simple e-portfolio. A learner can access events they have participated in through IPECT at any point during their time as a learner in the Health Sciences. Learners can download PDFs of their event submissions as well as PDFs of progress reports. IPECT keeps a record of the events a learner has successfully completed. This is a great feature for those who might want to show evidence for a class or when applying for another program or job.

How to access IPECT

To access IPECT, learners must be registered in IPECT. This is done centrally in collaboration with health science programs. Once registered in the IPECT system, logging in is straightforward for the user. Or so users tell us! 😉

We have more specific information to learn about logging in and finding events in IPECT on the USask Health Sciences IPE webpage: http://www.healthsciences.usask.ca/education-and-research/interprofessional-education.php#IPELearningPlatform

If you are interested in learning more specifically about IPECT features, please visit https://ipectapp.com/.

So that’s the platform itself. For more resources on how to use the platform, please visit http://www.healthsciences.usask.ca/education-and-research/interprofessional-education.php#IPELearningPlatform.