University at Buffalo Microcredential in Interprofessional Education:Skills you need. Proof you have them.

Micro-credentials, including digital badges, are increasingly used to demonstrate mastery of knowledge or skill that is smaller than that of a degree or formal certificate program. The University at Buffalo IPE leadership team has developed a comprehensive program with students from 12 health professions programs learning from, with, and about each other at the foundational, immersive, and entry-to practice levels. The Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPCP) Micro-credential Program provides UB health professions students with learning experiences to develop the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies for Collaborative Practice - interprofessional values and ethics, roles and responsibilities of healthcare providers, interprofessional communication, and teamwork. Furthermore, the IPCP Micro-Credential Program serves to meet the participating program’s accreditation criteria. The IPCP Micro-Credential Program includes three digital badges: IPCP - Foundations, IPCP- Communication and Teamwork, IPCP- Healthcare Practice. Evidence of these competencies provides graduates with a certified credential to distinguish themselves as interprofessional collaborative healthcare practitioners. This added value provides our students with the skills they need… and proof they have them.



Presenters at this Nexus Fair Resource Exchange will share details about the learning activities involved in earning badges and the development of the badge system. We will discuss our online learning modules and fall and spring semester forums, which engage over 700 students from 12 professions in interprofessional work to earn the IPCP Foundations Badge; our interprofessional simulations comprising the Communications and Teamwork badge; and the menu of interprofessional clinical experiences that comprise the IPCP Healthcare Practice badge. Participants will be oriented to the University at Buffalo IPE website, which provides information about the program to allow participants to generate ideas with their own Interprofessional teams to create credentials applicable to their own programs. We hope to exchange information to benefit interprofessional education in many universities and colleges!