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Care is delivered by teams, but continuing education is still too often delivered in silos. IPCE, short for interprofessional continuing education, closes that gap. This guide explains what IPCE is, why it improves outcomes, and how to deliver it without the administrative headache.
What is interprofessional continuing education?
IPCE is continuing education designed for professionals to learn with, from, and about each other, with the goal of improving collaboration and patient care. Instead of separate sessions for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, IPCE brings the team together around shared content built for a shared audience.
Why does team-based learning matter?
When clinical teams learn together, outcomes improve. Care coordination gets stronger, communication tightens, and errors drop. IPCE is not just a compliance checkbox. It is a quality improvement strategy that mirrors how care is actually delivered at the bedside.
What makes IPCE hard to deliver?
The obstacle has always been administrative. Awarding credit across professions historically meant working with multiple accrediting bodies, submitting multiple applications, and paying multiple fees. That complexity discouraged organizations from running true interprofessional programs even when the clinical case was clear.
How joint accreditation solves it
A provider with joint accreditation holds accreditation from ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC simultaneously. That lets a single activity award CME, CNE, and CPE at once, under one application and one fee. It also lets the activity carry the IPCE designation, which signals it was designed for team-based learning. Fewer than 200 organizations in the U.S. hold joint accreditation. Quality Insights is one of them.
What a good IPCE activity looks like
Strong interprofessional education shares a few traits:
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Shared objectives. Learning goals speak to the whole team, not one profession at a time.
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A planning committee that reflects the audience. Physicians, nurses, and pharmacists help shape content built for all three.
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Content grounded in real practice. Case-based scenarios show how the team actually works together.
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Evaluation that measures collaboration, not just individual knowledge gain.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all attendees have to be from different professions?
No. An IPCE activity is designed for a team-based audience, but attendance is not restricted. The designation reflects how the education was planned and built, not a headcount rule at the door.
Can a single-discipline provider offer IPCE?
Not in the full sense. Awarding credit across professions for one activity requires joint accreditation. A single-discipline provider can only credit the profession it is accredited for.
Is IPCE more expensive than single-discipline CE?
Usually not. With a jointly accredited partner, all three disciplines run under one application and fee, which typically costs less than paying three separate providers.
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Ready to offer accredited CE?
Want your next activity designed for the whole care team, not one profession at a time? AwardCE by Quality Insights holds joint accreditation from ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC and can carry the IPCE designation. Download our free guide, How to Offer Accredited CE Without Becoming an Accredited Provider, or schedule a free consultation.
