APTR-sponsored objective becomes Healthy People 2020 Measurable Objective

APTR is pleased to announce that the Healthy People 2020 objective sponsored by APTR has been accepted as a measurable objective of Healthy People 2020. The objective has organizational support from: Bureau of Health Professions, HRSA; Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation; Office of Minority Health; Office on Women’s Health; Office on Disability; and National Center for Health Statistics, CDC.

ECPB – 19: Increase the proportion of academic institutions with health professions education programs whose prevention curricula include interprofessional educational experiences.

Justification for New Objective

Clinical prevention and population health are receiving increasing attention in discussions about what needs to be done to improve health and reduce the costs of care in the U.S. Success at achieving these goals will entail placing a greater emphasis on teaching health professions students about the contributions they can make in preventing health problems and improving health outcomes of populations. There is also an increasing interest in expanding opportunities for students from different disciplines to learn and work together while enrolled in their health professions education programs so they will be prepared to participate as members of interprofessional teams when they complete their professional education.

It is anticipated that disease prevention and population health will benefit from an interprofessional team approach, and this new objective encourages health professions programs to provide interprofessional learning experiences for their students with a focus on prevention and population health. By so doing, students will learn about the contributions other health professionals can make to preventive care, ultimately increasing their exposure to and interest in prevention, enhancing the prospect of achieving the objectives contained in HP2020 and in Healthy People publications in the coming decades.

No previous Healthy People publication has mentioned interprofessional education in the context of clinical prevention and population health, and this objective is designed to make this important connection.

Proposed Baseline

33.3% of academic institutions with health professions education programs whose prevention curricula included interprofessional educational experiences in 2010.

Proposed Target

36.6%

Proposed Data Source

National Interprofessional and Prevention Education Survey, Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) and the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force (HPCTF)