A group of faculty from across the health professional programs at UBC worked collaboratively over a three year period to develop an innovative approach to ethics education that is changing the way we think about interprofessional learning at UBC.

By collaboratively developing an Integrated Ethics Curriculum, this interdisciplinary group of faculty have designed activities that strengthen existing content and create opportunities for students from different professions to learn together.

The Integrated Ethics Curriculum starts with Foundations of Ethical Practice, which consists of an online module that provides core content followed by an interprofessional workshop during which students collaboratively explore the principles of ethical practice in relation to a non-complex case. The second part of the curriculum, Ethical Decision-Making, is completely online, incorporating engaging videos and case-based learning that allow students to work through an ethical decision-making framework. Interprofessional Ethical Decision-Making, the third part of the curriculum, brings students together for an interprofessional workshop during which they discuss a complex case. The curriculum culminates in a practice-based reflective exercise using an online module that focuses on moral resilience.

The curriculum has demonstrated how a topic such as ethics, that resonates across all professions and is critical in today’s world of complex healthcare, can be enhanced through a collaborative and integrated approach.

Student comments emphasize how much the activities are enhanced by the interprofessional approach:  “It was great to discuss a complex ethical case study with students from different healthcare disciplines. Hearing different opinions was interesting and will be valuable in future practice.” When we ask what they value most about this learning experience, the most common response is “meeting students from other programs.”

Under the umbrella of ‘UBC Health’, and thanks to the pioneering efforts of these faculty members, the health professional programs at UBC are now moving towards an integrated approach to health professional education in Health Informatics and Indigenous Cultural Safety. Each of the Integrated Curricula are being implemented with over 1,000 students each year in 12 health professional programs at UBC and are helping ensure that our students have the opportunity to learn with, from and about other professions while exploring complex areas of healthcare.