Exploration to formation

Title

Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN)

- New kid on the block -

AfrIPEN was formed in 2015 to advocate for, collaborate on, promote and share good practice of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (IPE) in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Poster WS-83 / 243

Stefanus Snyman1, Kitty Uys2, Marius Hedimbi3 & Firdouza Waggie4 on behalf of AfriPEN

1 Stellenbosch University, South Africa | 2 University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa3 University of Namibia, Namibia | 4 University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Title

AfrIPEN aims to:

5. Advocate for and facilitate the integration of IPE into health workforce curricula offered by education and training institutions in Africa

6. Advocate for and facilitate the cultivation of IPE competencies among faculty, preceptors and health practitioners in Africa

7. Identify and promote IPE values that engenders teamwork

8. Participate in international networks informing best practice

9. Conduct collaborative research to inform IPE in Africa

Priorities for 2016/17

AfrIPEN

All Together Better Health VIII 6 - 9 September 2016 Oxford, UK

AfrIPEN was formed in 2015 at the Towards Unity for Health conference in Johannesburg (South Africa) following an exploratory process by involving:

Towards Unity for Health Interprofessional Working Group

WHO Initiative on transformative scale-up of health professional education

In-2-Theory Network

Global Research Interprofessional Network (GRIN)

Institute of Medicine’s Global Forum for the Innovation in Health Professions Education

'Next-Step' project funded by the Finnish Government (“Ndola Group”)

Consortium of New Southern African Medical School (CONSAMS)

The South African Association of Health Educationists (SAAHE)

Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf

Medical and Dental Board of the Health Professions Council of South Africa

1. Recruit and mobilise policy makers, professional bodies, institutional leadership, faculty, service providers, funders and other champions to advance IPE in Africa

2. Collaborate in identifying, developing, adapting and sharing IPE curricula for the African context

3. Utilize relevant global, regional and national networks and platforms to create an awareness of and mobilisation around IPE

4. Advocate for and facilitate the inclusion of interprofessional collaborative practice into scopes of practice of all members of the health workforce

FIRST YEAR IN A NUTSHELL

Promoting AfrIPEN and

growing membership:

From Africa: 57 from 10

countries

International: 13 from 6

countries

Constitution was finalised

Conducted successful 2-

day planning workshop

in June 2016

1. Develop an online platform for sharing IPE learning and teaching resources

2. Develop and launch a short learning programme to empower IPE facilitators

3. Produce a “generic” IPE policy document that can be adapted for various countries/contexts to advocate for IPE

4. Conduct a needs assessment among our members

5. Share IPE stories from Sub-Saharan Africa on our website (www.afripen.org to be launched soon)

6. Collaborate towards a Special Edition of the Journal of Interprofessional Care on IPE research in Sub-Saharan Africa

7. Conduct a workshop to develop a collaborative IPE research framework for Sub-Saharan Africa

8. Expand AfrIPEN: membership and develop its structure

Follow and join us

www.fb.me/AfrIPEN @IPEAfricAhttp://tiny.cc/AfrIPEN