To promote clinical interdisciplinary/interprofessional collaboration between current and future health care providers while delivering patient-centered, high-quality health care to under-served populations of Oklahoma.

Collaborative Environment:

• Foster a sense of respect and understanding for students and providers of all disciplines.
• Promote professionalism and teamwork to achieve the principles of total patient care.
• Create educational opportunities for future providers that demonstrate the ideal provider-patient relationship, interprofessional clinical skills, and help instill the role of health care in today's society.

Quality Health Care:

• Respect the autonomy and dignity of every patient.
• Provide equality and equity of care to under-served patients regardless of socioeconomic status, employment status, race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, or political affiliation.
• Provide patients with continuity of care or alternative methods to receive care.
• Provide education to promote better health care in the community.
• Strive for environmental sustainability in all aspects of the clinic.

IPE Clinic History

The Beginning

In the summer of 2012, with the vision, inspiration and support of Dr. Peggy Wisdom and the Wisdom Family Foundation, a small group of faculty began a year-long process of developing an interprofessional education program on the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (HSC) campus.

During academic year 2013-2014, 18 faculty and 76 students from seven colleges and 13 disciplines completed the Empowering Patients through Interprofessional Care (EPIC) program. This curriculum required completion of four, four-hour active learning sessions in the fall of 2013 and four, four-hour clinic sessions in the spring of 2014. The curriculum for the EPIC project was designed around four core topics related to health care professional teams – Roles and Responsibilities, Ethics and Values, Communication, and Teamwork. These topics were aligned with the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, as outlined in the May 2011 report of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC).

Our EPIC teams were first involved in patient care at Crossings Clinic Midtown (previously known as Good Shepherd Charitable Clinic) in downtown Oklahoma City during the spring semester of 2014. A total of 16 clinic sessions occurred on Thursday evenings with a total of 29 patients receiving longitudinal care delivered by an interprofessional team of nine to ten students. Approximately six patients per team were managed throughout the spring semester. Patients were chosen for the project based on complexity of their health care needs. During the initial visit, health care teams collaborated with each patient to determine problem lists of medical issues to be addressed at each appointment and developed goals for the patient’s health. At the final clinic session, students reviewed the progress made toward each goal. Significant improvements in health parameters were noted. 

2017-2018

In 2017-2018 there were 76 OU students from 14 different academic programs across seven colleges who participated in the EPIC Interprofessional Clinical Experience. Teams completed a four-hour didactic session, a four-hour simulation session, and 16 clinical contact hours to provide direct-patient care. Patients with complex needs were chosen to participate in the program, with some returning for follow-up care with the same team throughout the experience.

Current IPE Clinical Experience 

In 2019, our student-led Unity Clinic team outlined a new approach to the IPE Clinical Experience, which is now known as Unity Clinic. Today, Unity Clinic operates as a sustainable, replicable, standardized clinic model that allows all students to participate in a meaningful way.

The Unity Clinic five-year plan will be shared here soon.