TRU Oklahoma Grant Supplement Funding Awarded to Advance Interprofessional Education in Primary Care

The OUHSC Office of Interdisciplinary Programs, in the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs & Faculty Development, in collaboration with the OU College of Medicine, is pleased to announce the receipt of funding to advance Interprofessional Education in Primary Care. The project directors are Margaret Robinson, M.Ed., Senior Associate Director, and Rahma Osman, MHA, IPE Project Manager.

This award is made available through supplemental funding under the TRU-OK project funded by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). The TRU-OK project is a multi-year, multi-million-dollar initiative to expand and enhance the medical school curriculum to increase physicians in underserved sites in Oklahoma. The acronym used, TRU-OK, represents this project’s focus on the Tribal, Rural, and medically Underserved communities of Oklahoma. The Office of Interdisciplinary programs has partnered on this grant to assist in expansion of team-based learning opportunities for workforce trainees. Previous collaborations have included the creation and operation of the Health Sciences Explorer, our new educational and health outreach mobile unit.

The key domains for collaboration under this one-year funding include:

  1. Community Partnership infrastructure development including identifying community partners and developing policies and procedures for IPE education
  2. Evaluation infrastructure development to draft and implement an evaluation plan and standard operating procedure for team-based IPE projects
  3. Sustainability planning development to draft, complete, and implement a 5-year strategic plan for project sustainability

As a collaborative project, many stakeholders will be invited to participate in sub-projects under this grant. This will include engagement of community partners for sustainable growth of the interprofessional clinical experience model, Unity Clinic. This work follows the national IPEC Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice and addresses the HSC Strategic Plan Pillars. The purpose is to provide workforce development through real-world educational experiences impacting care for all health populations. By partnering with others working in community health spaces we intend to support sustainable access to comprehensive care, reduce barriers to care, and address health disparities in our state.

Questions can be directed to: Margaret-Robinson@ouhsc.edu or Rahma-Osman@ouhsc.edu.