2025-2026 Academic Catalog

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Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (CIPE)

IPE Orientation

IPE Orientation occurs at the first week of September in the fall term usually on the same day as the AMC Welcome Wednesday event, and is an introduction to the importance of IPE in healthcare. 

Students will have the opportunity to meet and work with their IPE team for the following term. It is a half day dedicated to the orientation of the Interprofessional Education (IPE) program and what to expect with Collaborative Team Paced Learning.

Longitudinal IPE Curriculum Timeline:

IPE Timeline

IPE Curriculum (IPCP & IPHE)

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPCP 5000)

The Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPCP) is a one semester course required of health professions students from the, dental, medical, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant programs on the Anschutz Medical Campus. There may also be students participating from the School of Public Health. The course takes place over 7 sessions in the spring of year 1. This course develops core competencies in teamwork and collaboration for first-year health professions students. Student will learn in interprofessional teams coached by interprofessional faculty, develop essential communication skills and process for simultaneous and sequential teams, and provide feedback on individual and team performance to improve interprofessional collaboration. Sessions are two hours in length, and involve active learning in teams using a team paced learning method to engage learners in Teamwork & Collaboration competency domains:

This course has 4 overarching goals: Teamwork & Collaboration

  • Describe the process of team development and the roles and practices of effective teams.
  • Demonstrate communication skills and processes within teams.
  • Recognize components of and perform effectively on sequential and simultaneous interprofessional collaborative teams.
  • Provide feedback on individual and team performance to improve effectiveness of interprofessional teamwork.

Outcomes and Learning Objectives: 

  • Describe the process of team development, and the roles and practices of effective teams.
  • Communicate with team members to clarify each member’s responsibility in providing collaborative patient care.
  • Recognize components of and perform effectively on sequential and simultaneous interprofessional collaborative teams.
  • Explore interprofessional communication and teamwork processes which address the goals of collaborative patient care.
  • Engage health and other professionals in shared patient-centered and population focused problem-solving.
  • Give timely, sensitive, instructive feedback to others about their performance on the team, respond respectfully as a team member to feedback from others.
  • Describe the potential impact of interprofessional collaboration on health care outcomes.

Interprofessional Healthcare & Health Equity (IPHE 6000)

The Interprofessional Healthcare Ethics and Health Equity (IPHE) is a one semester course required of health professions students from the, dental, medical, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant programs on the Anschutz Medical Campus. There may also be students participating from the School of Public Health. The course takes place over 7 sessions in the fall of year 2. This course develops foundational knowledge and basic practical skills to identify, analyze, and resolve ethical and health equity issues in clinical practice. This course integrates interprofessional collaboration and teamwork to teach students ethical theory and reasoning, professional ethics and its historical origins, and approaches to health care decision-making. Sessions are two hours in length, and involve active learning in teams using a team paced learning method to engage learners in Value and Ethics competency domains:

This course has 3 overarching goals: Values & Ethics

  • Awareness: recognize when you are facing an ethical issue 
  • Analysis: study the ethical issue to arrive at a decision about the right thing to do 
  • Action: develop and practice executing your plan for how to do what's right 

Outcomes and Learning Objectives: 

  • Identify health profession values, principles, and professional codes of ethics. 
  • Understand the historical context of health professions ethics.
  • Identify social, structural, and systemic ethical issues and how they impact healthcare access, delivery of care, and patient outcomes.
  • Apply key ethical concepts to identifying and exploring ethical dilemmas. 
  • Demonstrate approaches to addressing ethical dilemmas. 
  • Demonstrate Interprofessional collaboration when addressing ethical dilemmas. 
  • Compare and reflect on professional roles and responsibilities in the context of ethical dilemmas.
  • Identify the importance of situational leadership when facing ethical dilemmas.

Interprofessional Clinical Transformations (IPCT)

Clinical Transformations (CT) is a single simulation experience required of each student at the Center of Advancing Professional Excellence (CAPE). The timeline for this experience varies for each program. Students are placed in ad-hoc teams to practice the skills learned in IPED.

  • 4 hour video monitored simulations: students practice role shifts required to enable effective team leadership and followership
  • Scenarios: acute care, outpatient, home visits
  • Team reflection: Focus on teamwork & collaboration and address ethical and patient safety issues experienced in scenarios using briefs and debriefs

Interprofessional Clinical Integrations (IPCI)

Practicum Experiences at Clinical Sites

The third component of the IPE experience at CU also occurs at different times for each student dependent on the needs of their program and their clinical placements.

This component involves:

  • Students learning and caring for patients in interprofessional teams
  • Multiple settings including: hospitals, clinics, dental clinics, home visits, transitions in care, palliative care, special needs, etc.

CU IPE Open Campus Program activities: Starting Fall 

The CU Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (CU CIPE) aims to foster interprofessional collaboration at CU Anschutz and graduate team-ready practitioners with the skills needed to collaborate as a member of an interprofessional team. In this effort, the CU CIPE offers faculty, staff, and students from all academic units, institutes, and programs to engage in the Interprofessional Open Campus Program (IOCP).

The IOCP connects students, faculty, and staff members from across the CU Anschutz campus, regardless of professional background, in programing meaningful for the individual and the campus community. The IOCP consists of a menu of program offerings that resonate with the campus community. Additionally, IOCP offerings aim to be inclusive of all members of the AMC community whenever possible.​