Health care system leadership views on competencies for a collaborative-ready health workforce

Background: The inability to meet the population health needs of a diverse society has become a driving focus in the revolution and evolution of health care. This transformation must consider community health system leadership perspectives in determining the elements necessary to produce desired change within a local context. Purpose: To determine what a regional sample of health care system leaders believe are the required prioritized competencies that entry-level healthcare professionals must demonstrate in order to contribute to a successful interprofessional practice model. Method: In-depth interviews and ranking surveys were used to determine leadership perspectives on the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) interprofessional competencies of greatest priority relative to their organizational values. Discussion & conclusions: Findings demonstrated that health systems in this region expect entry-level clinicians to possess excellent non-technical traits and abilities to contribute to quality collaborative practice outcomes, with ten specific key interprofessional competencies identified to guide academic interprofessional curricular design and performance assessment.