Universidad Europea has signed a collaboration agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Health to design and implement an IPE Plan in the country. June 5 and 6 saw the first meeting held under this agreement between the UE and representatives from the Ministries of Health and Education of Brazil to analyze the current status of the IPE of the schools of Health Sciences in Brazil.
The meeting was part of the recommendation issued by the Pan American Health Organization-World Health Organization to implement the IPE in human resource management in health care in Latin America and the Caribbean. Universidad Europea also took part in the previous seminar, held in 2016 in Bogotá, which discussed aspects of the IPE. According to Universidad Europea, this agreement reinforces the commitment to teaching and research capacities working for society through the best possible training for graduates.
Thus, the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, whose degree program curricula already include an IPE program, serves as a model for other university and/or health institutions. On example of the commitment to IPE training is the Simulated Hospital inaugurated in 2016. A 745 m2 space that replicates hospital spaces in detail to submerge students into a real simulated hospital. This space offers over 25,000 hours of simulation and can train over 5,000 students under the supervision of 200 health professionals.
Eva Icarán, Academic Director of the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, notes “the need to bring visibility to the importance of interprofessional education in the health care training of our students and Health professionals.” Meanwhile, Juan José Beunza, an expert professor from the Program for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, argues that “theoretical knowledge is necessary and essential, but no longer sufficient, IPE and Collaborative Practice give our students a differentiating value in their professional future.”