The IPEC core competencies are incorporated into HIV care and prevention topics:

• Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice: Work with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values when accessing and providing care to PWH.
• Roles/Responsibility: Use the knowledge of one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the health care needs of patients with HIV and to promote and advance the health of populations.
• Interprofessional Communication: Communicate with patients, families, communities, and professionals in HIV health care and other fields in a responsive, equitable, inclusive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to the promotion and maintenance of health and the prevention and treatment of disease.
• Teams/Teamwork: Apply relationship-building values and the principles of team dynamics to perform effectively in different team roles to plan, deliver, and evaluate patient/population-centered care and population health programs and policies that are safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable.

Medical Student: “100,000% IPE influenced me. I learned that I like managing complex patients, both medically and socially. Being at the VCCC has been so enjoyable and I am strongly considering ID as a specialty.”

Nursing Student: “Prior to starting IPE I did not have plans to work specifically with individuals living with HIV. IPE has opened my eyes to the opportunities available in working with this population and given me confidence in navigating the resources available to them. Now, I can see that working with this population encompasses all the demographics that I want to see in my future practice. Whenever I am asked, I tell people it would be an honor to continue working with this population.”

Pharmacy Student: “My baseline knowledge of HIV/AIDS was not much more than knowing what the acronyms stood for. After starting the program, I began to feel very attached to this patient population and was fascinated by not only HIV, but infectious diseases in general. It is such a unique population of people and it opened my eyes to caring for a person as a whole. There is so much misinformation and lack of knowledge/experience, even among educated professionals, that I definitely took ownership in being the person that others came to for questions or insight. I knew very early on that I wanted a career that somehow involved working with people living with HIV. Unfortunately, there are few career opportunities for pharmacists that are as niche as working with people living with HIV. However, after graduation I began working as a clinical staff pharmacist at the hospital in my hometown of Glasgow, KY where I became the unofficial “infectious disease pharmacist” (we are too small to really have specialties). I have been able to educate many of my colleagues about the nuances of this population and disease state. I think I will always feel a connection to this population of people.”

PMHMP Student: “When I entered the IPE Program, making HIV the focus of my career wasn’t part of the plan. After spending some time at the clinic I found I was always looking forward to my afternoons there and I love working with both the clients and the staff. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to complete some of my psychiatric clinical hours there in addition to the IPE program. Time was on my side because just as I was graduating from my program, one of the psych providers was leaving her position and I had all the training I needed to get the job. The knowledge I gained through the IPE program about the medical, social work and pharmacy teams was so invaluable to me in my new role. My experience in IPE also inspired me to become a preceptor myself, so I can train the next generation of providers to be HIV informed.”

Social Work Student: “This was a wonderful experience. IPE helped me to gain insight into a population that I had never thought of working with. I had little to no knowledge of HIV/AIDs but love to learn. The staff at the SE AETC was a wealth of knowledge and were so patient to explain things in a way that did not overwhelm me. My favorite part of the experience was being able to shadow a client from the beginning of an appointment in the waiting room to check out. It was really amazing to see everything that client’s go through during one visit with their doctor from labs to case management. IPE gave me the confidence to apply to my now job at Careteam+ in Conway, SC as a medical case manager. Without that prior experience, I would not have considered myself qualified for the job. Flash forward and I now have 80 clients that are HIV positive that I have the privilege of working with as their case manager. I am beyond grateful for the IPE experience and the opportunities it has afforded me.”