Journal’s focus: Interprofessional education, practice

Interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice (IPP) are increasingly recognized as essential features of health care training and delivery.

Over the last two years, UNMC has worked with publisher Elsevier to establish a new journal to support the growth of IPE and IPP. Last week, Elsevier, in partnership with UNMC and the National Academies of Practice, announced the launch of the Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice (JIEP).

The quarterly, online, peer-reviewed journal is co-edited by Devin Nickol, M.D., UNMC assistant dean for interprofessional education, and Antonio Puente, Ph.D., professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. It will be published by Elsevier, a leading international publisher in the academic health sciences.

“UNMC has placed a priority on providing national leadership in this area,” Dr. Nickol said. “The journal will promote scholarly work in the fields of IPE and IPP, encourage uniformity of teaching and practice, and help develop the evidence base needed to guide national implementation efforts.”

The journal will address a broad range of topics in IPE and IPP, and is targeted toward health professions’ teaching faculty, health care practitioners, researchers, students and others interested in team-based care.

One of the impetuses for the journal was to help build infrastructure nationally for IPE and IPP.

“It’s been somewhat challenging for folks to find a forum to publish their work in IPE,” Dr. Nickol said. “This will help to lessen the bottleneck and encourage the sharing of ideas among people trying to figure out how to implement IPE at their own institutions.”

The first issue will include editorials by Dr. Nickol and co-editor, Dr. Puente, as well as original articles. Unsolicited manuscripts describing original research in IPE or IPP are welcome at the journal’s website, where individual and institutional subscriptions are also available.

UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., and Dele Davies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs, currently serve on the editorial board of the journal. Dr. Gold plans to guest edit a leadership series in the journal and solicit viewpoints from national health care accrediting bodies.