Inter-Professional Education Program

In addition to the School of Medicine, Keio University established the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care in 2001 and the Faculty of Pharmacy in 2008, bringing together three medical-related faculties. In recent years, while medical care has become increasingly specialized, the importance of communication between professionals and patient-centered team medical care has grown. In response, an increasing number of universities have incorporated Inter-Professional Education (IPE) into their curricula, where students from multiple medical faculties learn together from their student days. At Keio University, the Inter-Professional Education Program, a unique IPE program, started in the 2011 academic year.

The core of the Inter-Professional Education Program consists of three programs: early, middle, and late-stage education. Each is a half-day to full-day program where all students (over 350) from the target years of the School of Medicine, Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, and Faculty of Pharmacy gather to conduct group work in small mixed teams.

Early-Stage Education

This program is held in the spring at the Hiyoshi Campus for first-year students of the School of Medicine, the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, and the Department of Pharmacy in the Faculty of Pharmacy. The educational goal is to "experience the utility of teamwork with an eye toward future team medical care."

Middle-Stage Education

This program is held in the autumn at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) for fourth-year students of the School of Medicine, second-year students of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, and fourth-year students of the Department of Pharmacy in the Faculty of Pharmacy. The educational goal of this program is to "understand what constitutes good team medical care."

Late-Stage Education

This program is held simultaneously at the Shinanomachi Campus and the Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus for sixth-year students of the School of Medicine, fourth-year students of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, and sixth-year students of the Department of Pharmacy in the Faculty of Pharmacy. With the educational goal of "practicing team medical care," students understand their roles as members of a medical team to provide patient-centered care and collaborate with members from other faculties to address problems. Specifically, they spend a full day working on the difficult task of creating a medical and care plan for a patient requiring renal replacement therapy. Seeing the students engaged in group work and presenting their results, they look very reliable, as one would expect from final-year students!

In addition to the early, middle, and late-stage programs, elective programs such as the Laos training program and Basic Life Support training are also conducted. Through these curricula, it is expected that students from the three medical faculties will deepen their interactions from their student days and grow into medical professionals who can practice patient-centered group approach medical care in the future. Although the three medical faculties of Keio University face the handicap of having campuses separated in Shinanomachi, Shonan Fujisawa, and Shiba-Kyoritsu, we intend to overcome this and make the program even more substantial.

These initiatives are introduced in detail on the Keio University Inter-Professional Education Program website. Please take a look.