Partnering for a Sustainable Interprofessional Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Education Curriculum.

Background: The World Health Organization recommends that health care educators create a collaborative and practice-ready workforce. Focused interprofessional education (IPE) promotes collaborative practice, yet few examples of how to develop sustained IPE and clinical partnerships exist. Mental health care professionals competent in their specialty and prepared for interprofessional collaboration are needed to treat complex mental health needs of patients. Method: Doctor of Nursing Practice Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) faculty partnered with College of Pharmacy faculty to create didactic, clinical, and simulation coursework and IPE competencies within PMHNP courses. Students developed skills about providing interprofessional mental health care. Results: Recommendations for faculties include: embrace the value of interprofessional faculty partnerships; plan for time, money, motivation, and recognition needed for sustainable IPE; and design courses that become part of the fabric of the curricula. Conclusion: Embedding IPE into PMHNP curricula creates increased faculty satisfaction and positive feedback from students and clinical sites.