What’s Your Pitch? Adopting a Business Approach to Advocate for IPE Resources

Seminar Description: 
Background: Most healthcare education program accreditors in the US require that learners receive training and experience that will enable them to collaborate effectively on interprofessional teams when they graduate (HPAC, 2019). However, a recent study of the organizational structure of IPE programs in the U.S. found that dedicated resources for IPE tend to be associated with centralized infrastructure at institutions with an academic health center (Shrader et al, 2022). Institutions without such resources may struggle to develop and sustain IPE programs due to a variety of barriers at the individual, institutional, and governmental/policy levels (Lawlis et al., 2014). Program leaders need tools and strategies that can help them find their own IPE niche and advocate for resources to support their efforts. The IPEC Institutional Assessment Instrument (Zorek et al., 2022) provides a framework that IPE leaders can use to identify the opportunities and gaps in their institution’s approach to IPE.

Purpose: The purpose of this seminar is to provide IPE leaders with tools to evaluate their current assets, leverage their institution’s strengths to create meaningful IPE for their setting, and develop a business case that provides a compelling argument for support.

In addition to the IPEC institutional assessment, we will introduce two additional tools, First, we will use Liberating Structures, a set of interactive methods for effectively harnessing creative ideas from stakeholders (Lipmanowicz & McCandless, 2013). Second, we will also introduce participants to the pitch deck, a popular business technique that can be adapted to help academics tell more compelling stories (Toor, 2022). We will address two of the conference themes. We will help participants begin to build their own IPE case using information and evidence that can inform outcomes. These tools and resources will help to develop IPE leaders that can create and sustain effective programs.

Learning Objectives:
As a result of this seminar, participants will be able to:
1) Evaluate the current state of IPE at their own institution
2) Discuss methods for gathering information and evidence to build their IPE case
3) Develop a pitch for a sustainable IPE program

Seminar Agenda:
15 minutes - Review the IPE landscape, share resources for assessing your institution’s strengths and gaps, introduce Liberating Structures and the power of the pitch
30 minutes - Breakout room activity (groups of 4-5): Using an abbreviated version of the Liberating Structures “Wise Crowds” method, one participant will serve as the “client” and present the resource challenge that they want to address at their institution (2 minutes). Other group members ask clarifying questions (3 minutes). Client turns off camera and microphone and listens while the group discusses the challenge and works to generate recommendations that can help the client gather information from their stakeholders and begin to develop a pitch (6 minutes). Client turns on camera and microphone and provides feedback about what was useful (2 minutes). Repeat this process with a second group member as the client.
15 minutes - Large group debrief and discussion about strategies to complete the pitch