The University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (AzCIM) in collaboration with the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health received a HRSA grant to establish the National Center for Integrative Primary Healthcare (NCIPH). OCOM is one of the sites where NCIPH will be piloting a 45-hour introductory interprofessional integrative healthcare course, Foundations in Integrative Health.

Beginning January 19, 2016 OCOM doctoral students, faculty and staff will start participating in this important pilot study. The NCIPH supports the incorporation of competency- and evidence-based Integrative Health Care (IH) curricula into educational programs in a movement toward integrative interprofessional patient care. The ultimate goal of this project is to change the way primary care health professionals are educated to include an emphasis on providing an integrative approach to patient care utilizing an interprofessional collaborative team. The curriculum will include:

1. Introduction to Integrative Health
2. Motivational Interviewing and Lifestyle Behavior Change
3. Health Care Professionals Well-being
4. Primary Health Care Professionals Background and IM/IH assessments
5. Integrative Health Interventions
6. Community and Systems At-Large
7. Final Reflection and Post-Assessments

Educational training institutions and their participants who are part of the pilot study will be expected to complete the course by July 1, 2016. Participants who pass a knowledge test with a score of 70 percent or better and complete at least 80 percent of the course content will receive a certificate of completion from the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.

Read how the competencies were developed and strategies for adoption from an article originally published in Global Advances in Health and Medicine.