IPE-ACTS

All first-year health professional students in the Emory University School of Medicine (SOM) and the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) and a select group of Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (SON) students (PDF) are required to participate.

First-year students at the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Public Health will be registered for the Interprofessional Education and Public Health Leadership (PUBH 501) course during fall semester 2024 and will participate in the course during spring semester 2025. The PUBH 501 course will be comprised of online modules, a one-day interactive team-based health challenge hackathon, and a post-assessment survey. This is a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory, 0-credit course. 

Please note, PUBH 501 will appear on all participating students' transcripts except Emory University School of Medicine doctor of medicine and doctor of physical therapy students. IPE-ACTS is a component of the required SOM MD IPE Thread and of the required DPT IPECP course.

Didactic IPEC Modules

The online modules will be available via an Emory Canvas site and will provide didactic instruction in the IPEC competencies. Students will be able to complete these modules as soon as they are registered for the PUBH 501 course through January 30, 2025 (see timeline below).

Health Challenge Selection and Team Formation

In the Emory Canvas site, students will choose one of 10 different Atlanta-based health challenges to focus their interprofessional (IPE) team solution. Students can select their health challenge via a survey in the Canvas course once they are enrolled in the PUBH 501 course. Students must complete this survey by November 13, 2024. If a student does not complete the survey, the student will be assigned to a health challenge. Health challenge and team assignments will be available in late November. IPE student teams will include students from a minimum of two different health professional schools (e.g., RSPH and SON, SON and SOM, etc.) and will have approximately 10 members.

Emory faculty members will serve as Faculty Champions, and will provide each health challenge information in the Canvas site and during the IPE-ACTS Day hackathon. Health challenges will address a wide range of disparate issues affecting Atlanta's numerous communities, with a special emphasis on conditions affecting the city's inequitably served and vulnerable populations. Health challenges will be announced during fall semester 2024 and posted in the Emory Canvas course site.

Each IPE team will work together to develop a health challenge solution and five-minute oral presentation. 

The course will officially begin on January 14, 2025, the first day of spring semester. All online educational assignments must be completed by Thursday, January 30.

IPE-ACTS Day will take place on Friday, January 31, 2025. During IPE-ACTS Day, student teams will gather in person to review IPEC core competencies, learn how a real-world interprofessional team addresses a health challenge, learn more details about their respective health challenge from their Faculty Champion, and meet in individual teams to develop their health challenge solution and a five-minute presentation. Each teach will present its health challenge solution at the end of IPE-ACTS Day, and a winning team will be selected for each health challenge. IPE-ACTS Day will run from 8:00 am - 5:30 pm on Friday, January 31, 2025, so students should plan accordingly.

After IPE-ACTS Day, students will have one week to complete and submit a post-assessment survey via the Canvas course.

Individual Student Deliverables

• Pre-course assessment 
• Completion of online didactic course materials
• Post-course assessment  

Student Team Deliverables

• Five-minute oral presentation of Health Challenge solution at the end of IPE-ACTS Day

On IPE-ACTS Day, each IPE team will have four hours to develop its health challenge solution and five-minute oral presentation. Faculty Champions and another faculty member will provide guidance and assistance to teams during this process. Each team will receive 20 minutes of assistance (10 minutes from each faculty member) while they work on their health challenge solutions. Students will also be provided with written guidance for developing their solution as well as examples of health challenge solutions from the previous year in the Canvas site.

At the end of IPE-ACTS Day, each team will present its health challenge solution to their health challenge Faculty Champion and another subject matter expert. These two individuals will judge the solutions/presentations and determine the winning team for their respective health challenge.