Influence of a university cooperation on the development of interprofessional competences

Objectives This project carried out in cooperation between the University of Applied Sciences for Health Professions Upper Austria (UASHPUA) and the Medical Faculty of Johannes Kepler University Linz (MFJKUL), describes the feasibility, i.e., the planning and implementation, and presents selected results of an inter-university lecture on interprofessional cooperation. Methodology The lecture “Grundlagen zu interprofessioneller Zusammenarbeit im Gesundheitswesen (IPZ3I)” / “Introduction to interprofessional cooperation in health care (IPZ3I)”) as well as an interprofessional job shadowing were designed. The pilot lecture started in the winter semester (WS) 2019/20. An evaluation of IPZ3I was undertaken by means of a questionnaire. Results IPZ3I was held in WS 2019/20 for 296 students from nine different health care professions and included a specialist lecture, the presentation of the professions, and interprofessional case processing. In the evaluation approx. 80 % of the students described a better understanding of the interprofessional collaboration. More than 70 % regard interprofessional courses in education as important or very important. The majority of respondents indicate that after completing the lecture they can make recommendations for action for interprofessional cooperation. Conclusions The joint lecture IPZ3I will be maintained at both universities. The process of evaluation and adaptation of curricula at UASHPUA is currently underway. This includes, for instance, consultations with the curriculum officers at MFJKUL, and the exploration of further possibilities to identify and to implement joint interprofessional teaching aspects in the curricula. This shall be achieved by considering the existing resources, increasing student numbers at MFJKUL as of 2023, planned curricula revisions as well as using possible synergies aiming at an extension of the existing cooperation. Key words Interprofessionalism; project description; curriculum development; competency-based education