ASCO Board Approves Core Competencies for Interprofessional Education
At its March 9 meeting, ASCO’s Board of Directors approved Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (IPECP) Core Competencies for Optometric Education. The Core Competencies were developed by ASCO’s Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Committee (IPRF), chaired by Dr. John Nishimoto, who set out to create a set of competencies specific for optometric education that align with current Interprofessional Education Collaborative Core Competencies as well as ASCO’s Attributes of Students Graduating from Schools and Colleges of Optometry .
The Competencies are intended to provide guidance to schools in the implementation of Interprofession Education at their institutions as well as provide increased focus on optometry as an integral member of the interprofessional health care team. They also support ASCO’s “Collaboration” Key Strategic Objective: Develop and facilitate inter-institutional and interprofessional collaboration among ASCO member institutions as well as between ASCO and other organizations. The Competencies will be an important addition to ASCO’s IPECP Toolkit for Optometric Education as well.
The IPECP Core Competencies were coauthored by Dr. Linda Casser and Dr. Tracy Wang and reviewed by Dr. Melissa Zarn and Dr. Sarah El-Khazendar. IPRF past and current committee members were also involved in the review.