The Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education (C-IPE) hosted an IPE Strategic Retreat on Thursday, December 7, 2023 to determine next steps for strategic work, centered around the theme of “Awareness, Action and Alignment.”
On a crisp December day, attendees gathered in the Great Lakes Room at Palmer Commons for an afternoon of strategic discussion and planning with their colleagues from around Michigan Medicine and the University of Michigan. After grabbing a hot lunch and locating their assigned seating at a table adorned with images of festive holiday food, conversations began flowing before the formal discussions kicked off.
While some participants were regular contributors to the interprofessional education (IPE) community, many newer faces were included among the invitees.
“We purposefully invited a much broader group of people than we ever have to help shape Stage 2 of our strategic direction in this work,” shared Rajesh Mangrulkar, M.D., director of the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education (C-IPE). “In addition to our academic colleagues and students, it was critical to include leaders from the community and the practice environments that care deeply about improving health. Their partnership has been so important to help us get to this stage.”
The work at this retreat built upon the initial strategic direction launched two years ago, shortly after Mangrulkar began his role as C-IPE Director. C-IPE hosted a strategy retreat in 2021 to redefine its mission, vision and values. From here, the group set a goal of improving the quintuple aims of health and developed five strategies, leading to the formation of five workgroups to carry out this work.
Now, after 2 years of intense work through these workgroups and committees, everyone was ready to pause, reflect and determine what comes next.
The 2023 IPE Strategic Retreat centered around three goals:
- Increasingawareness of work happening across C-IPE’s different groups.
- Definingactions that C-IPE groups will be undertaking together, defined by priorities and resources.
- Promotingalignment of the work taking place with C-IPE’s mission and strategy.
Workgroup and committee leaders outlined their accomplishments to date for attendees to review prior to the retreat in a summary document. By reviewing this in advance, retreat participants were better prepared to discuss the challenges and next steps that lie ahead for each group.
Since the retreat attendees represented a broad community of people, table seating was assigned to ensure a balanced mix of perspectives. This also allowed guests to learn about each other and how they all contribute to the work.
Likewise, workgroups and committees were paired together into four “clusters” with a shared focus to help facilitate discussions. Each cluster presented challenges and possible next steps before moving into a discussion period with each table and the large group tackling one or two key questions that would inform the work of the next two years.
The retreat ended with a reflection period where Mangrulkar led a discussion about the themes that emerged from the day, what C-IPE should commit to doing, and what resources would be needed to be successful.
Attendees walked away feeling energized and engaged about the work ahead. Here are a few reflections from participants:
“The different disciplines and job roles that came together to elaborate was vast and exciting. There was a ton of knowledge in the room and it was very eye opening to participate and listen to the different reflections, opinions, suggestions and concerns. The setup and structure of this retreat is a model I would like to utilize as we continue to think about our patient, family, staff, faculty and learner experiences in the future of Michigan Medicine.”
Devin Lippert, administrative director, Office of Patient Experience
“I felt energized during discussions at my table. The retreat was a wonderful opportunity to learn from and collaborate with others from across the university to promote the incredibly important work of the Center for Interprofessional Education. As a patient experience professional who came to this work as a patient and caregiver, I know firsthand what a difference it makes to our patients and families when care teams work well together. I was excited to share the partnership OPE has made with IPE in improving patient perception of effective teamwork at Brighton Center for Specialty Care and look forward to many more such partnerships in the future.”
Nancy Kuemin, patient experience coach, Office of Patient Experience
“I felt like the IPE Strategic Retreat was a tornado — lots of ideas and discussion were tossed out and mixed between different teams! I am really thrilled to be a voice for students and envision even more quality and intentional involvement for learners in the interprofessional education space and future practice.”
Tommy Lau, dental student, School of Dentistry
“Attending the IPE Strategic Retreat was an excellent opportunity to speak to the ongoing work of SAC, and additionally understand how we can improve our ongoing efforts in advancing student engagement within IPE in collaboration with the entire C-IPE community. I am fortunate to be able to serve as a direct stakeholder in conversations that drive IPE innovation and improvement alongside leaders across our health science schools. SAC looks forward to elevating the student voice across U-M IPE advancement processes.”
Natalya Salganik, pharmacy student, College of Pharmacy
“I’m always impressed and humbled by the dedication and hope of our IPE community. The time and vision they contribute to shaping the future of health care and health professions education is awe-inspiring,” shared Vani Patterson, administrative director of C-IPE. “This retreat was one of those events that we will look back on as a pivotal moment in the IPE history at U-M.”
C-IPE leaders will now begin the work of creating an updated strategic plan for review in 2024. In the coming weeks, the IPE team will be working to synthesize the diverse opinions into a clear direction for Stage 2 of the strategic work in interprofessional education and practice.
“This is exactly where we hoped we’d be,” Mangrulkar said.
To learn more about the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education’s current strategic blueprint, visit our website. To view more photos from the December 7, 2023 retreat, visit our Facebook page.