Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Folder eCC_00016652 is in stage Annual_Report_Review
Name of the University, Hospital, Research Institute, Academy or MinistryGunma University
Name of the Division, Department, Unit, Section or Area
Centre for Research and Training on Interprofessional Education
Reference Number

JPN-89City

Maebashi-City

Title

WHO Collaborating Centre for research and training on Interprofessional Education

Report Year

07-2019 to 07-2020

1. Annual report on the agreed workplan
Describe progress made on the agreed workplan. For each activity, detail (1) the actions taken, (2) theoutputs delivered, as well as (3) any difficulties that may have been encountered. Three responses areexpected. [maximum 200 words per activity]. Indicate, if an activity has been completed previously,
has not yet started or has been placed on hold.
Activity 1
Title: Better understanding and dissemination of health professions education reforms, including IPE
introduction, in the WPR countries
Description: Toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the program addresses theneed to substantially improve quality and quantity of health workforce (HWF) training. Universal Health
Coverage (UHC) is one of the strongest tools for SDGs, especially Goal 3. Although well-trained HWF isessential to provide quality health service, the severe shortage of HWF is still a big issue hindering theachievement of SDGs. Efforts to scale up health professional education must be increased in terms of quantityand quality. Recently, the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth has
strengthened investment in the high-quality HWF production. Scaling up transformative, high-quality education
is included in the recommendations to maximize future returns on investments. Interprofessional education(IPE) is one of 11 recommendations demonstrated in WHO Guideline 2013, Transforming and scaling up
health professionals’ education and training. Recently several WPR counties have embarked on initiatives toimprove health professional education with WHO support. To adopt transformative strategies in the scale-upof health worker education, a coordinated approach is needed to encourage IPE and collaborative practice in
the Western Pacific Region (WPR).
There are several organizations that promote IPE/CP nationally or internationally. Japan Interprofessional
Working and Education Network (JIPWEN) is one of the globally-leading networks and it has extensive
experiences of organizing and attending the international HWF-related forums. These academic organizations
keep a flexible inter-federation network and have international meetings on a regular basis, such as the All
Together Better Health (ATBH) biennial conference. There are also international conferences related to HWF
issues such as the Global Forum on HRH, Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) and the Asia PacificAction Alliance on Human Resources for Health (AAAH) conference. These conferences facilitate knowledge
sharing, experience exchange, and the establishment of evidence-based IPE and CP in response to theneeds of developed-countries.
For better understanding of IPE, the Centre in consultation with WHO will organize or participate insymposiums or workshops focusing on health professions education reforms in the WPR countries. TheCentre will also participate and present at international conferences related to IPE at the global level toadvocate and share the experiences from the Region.

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Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Status: ongoing(1) Actions taken
1. The Centre sent three faculty members to the PMAC2020 in Bangkok, Thailand, 2020/1/29-2/1.
2. The Centre sent three faculty members to the #COLLABforASIA: the second Asia-Pacific Interprofessional
Education and Collaboration (APIPEC) and Philippine Interprofessional Education and Collaboration(PHIPEC) Networks Joint International Conference and made a presentation entitled “IPE initiatives in Gunma
University” in Cavite, the Philippines, 2020/1/11-12.
3. The Centre sent three faculty members to the third World Health Organization Collaborating Centre Meetingand made a presentation entitled “Outline of activities of WHOCC at Gunma University (JPN-89)” in Tokyo,
Japan, 2019/9/6.
4. The Centre sent a faculty member to the first Institut Latihan Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (ILKKM)
Regional Conference on Medical and Allied Health Education and made two presentations entitled “Quality ofHealth Professional Education: IPE” and “The evidence of IPE”
In the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2019/9/3-4.
5. The Centre sent two faculty members to the third meeting on health professional education reforms intransition economy countries in Shanghai, China, 2019/7/23-25.
(2) Outputs delivered
1. A faculty member of the Centre gave a presentation “IPE initiatives in Gunma University” in the#COLLABforASIA: the second Asia-Pacific Interprofessional Education and Collaboration (APIPEC) andPhilippine Interprofessional Education and Collaboration (PHIPEC) Networks Joint International Conference inCavite, the Philippines, 2020/1/11-12.
2. A faculty member of the Centre gave a presentation “Outline of activities of WHOCC at Gunma University(JPN-89)” in the third World Health Organization Collaborating Centre Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, 2019/9/6.
3. A faculty member of the Centre gave two presentations “Quality of Health Professional Education: IPE” and“The evidence of IPE” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2019/9/3-4.
(3) Difficulty
None
Activity 2Title: Monitoring and evaluation of strategic partnership for IPE development in the Region
Description: WHO supports the establishment of Education Development Center (EDC) in the WPR. The
Centre visited EDC in the University of Health Sciences (UHS) in Lao PDR and it started to collaborate withthe EDC for their educational development under the coordination of WHO. To implement the collaboration, afour-phase action plan was developed in 2014. The four-year activities consisted of sharing the key conceptsof IPE, designing programmes, organizing the interprofessional programme committee and implementing andevaluating the programme each year. Through this experience, the Centre recognized the importance of astrategic instead of sporadic approach for several years to disseminate IPE. The framework for strategic
partnership is shown in Twinning Partnerships for Improvement: Recovery Partnership Preparation Package
issued by WHO in 2016. Although this strategic approach can be a model for the IPE introduction in different
educational settings, monitoring and evaluation will be needed as a health system attribute, accountability forUHC, stated in Universal Health Coverage: Moving Towards Better Health, WHO/WPRO 2015. In terms ofevidence generation, the Centre, with technical advise from WHO, will evaluate the effectiveness of theircurrent IPE initiative implemented in Lao People Democratic Republic and use the lessons to inform design offuture initiatives.
The ownership of the report and/or publications will be vested in the WHO Collaborating Centre.

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Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Status: ongoing(1) Actions taken
In 2016, the UHS embedded an IPE concept into a pre-qualifying community-based training program as the4th stage of the framework for strategic partnership, in collaboration with the WHO and the Centre. Resultsfrom the randomized study design suggested that the students attending the IPE program showed significantly
more positive attitude towards collaborative practice than the students not experiencing the IPE program. On
the basis of these results, an article entitled “Integrating Interprofessional Education into human resources
health reform: a Lao People’s Democratic Republic case study” was published in the Journal ofInterprofessional Care in August 2019.
(2) Outputs delivered
1. A report on the effectiveness of the IPE initiative implemented in Lao PDR was published in a peerreviewed scientific journal, Journal of Interprofessional Care (Doi: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1646229).
(3) Difficulty
The Centre would like to continuously support for EDCs and educational/training institutions interested in
implementing IPE initiatives in WPR region. The Centre highly appreciates WHO’s support on this matter.
Activity 3Title: Collecting evidence for the effect of IPE on attitudes of learners toward IPE and CP
Description: Professionals’ Education and Training: World Health Organization Guidelines 2013, clearly listed
interprofessional education (IPE) as one of the eleven recommendations. However, insufficient evidence forthe effects of IPE on health issues was also pointed out. To disseminate IPE under the WHO HRH Policy toscale up and transform health professions education, evidence for concrete effects of IPE programs onlearners’ attitudes toward the needs of the people and eventually higher quality of the stakeholders must beacquired. To improve the health system attributes of quality and efficiency, for UHC, stated in Universal Health
Coverage: Moving Towards Better Health, WHO/WPRO 2015, careful scientific research needs to bepromoted. The Centre has published several articles describing attitudinal changes in response to its IPE
training program. Lessons learnt through these research activities are that the efficacy of the IPE might bedivided into common and unique modules of CP, suggesting a more careful evaluation of the diverse IPE
programs. Recently the value of IPE has been appreciated in various fields, especially for aging, disasterrecovery and patient safety. Gunma University developed an instrument to measure attitudes of various
stakeholders towards IPE and CP. Through the strong network of JIPWEN, Gunma University will share its
research findings among JIPWEN universities. In consultation with WHO, the Centre will undertake literature
reviews to develop and publish on IPE approaches with the aim of improving the quality and relevance ofhealth profession education. The ownership of the reports and/or publications will be vested in the WHO
Collaborating Centre.

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Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Status: ongoing(1) Actions taken
1. The Centre encouraged JIPWEN universities as well as the Centre itself to research on the effect of theirindividual IPE programs and publish the findings in globally-recognized scientific journals. Then five JIPWEN
universities published following nine English scientific papers.
2. The Centre sent a member to the Patient Safety and Risk Management, SDS/HQ/WHO from October 2019
to March 2020 to conduct literature review in terms of IPE related to patient safety.
(2) Outputs delivered
Nine scientific papers published in English:
1. Abe H, et al., Development of the Undergraduate Version of the Interprofessional Learning Scale (UIPLS).
Journal of Allied Health, 2019; 48: 3-10.
2. Hamada S, et al., Effectiveness of an interprofessional education program using team-based learning for
medical students: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of General and Family Medicine, 2019; 21(1): 2-9.
3. Maeno T, et al., Interprofessional education in medical schools in Japan. PLoS One, 2019; 14(1):e0210912.
4. Sy M. P, et al., Uncovering the lived experiences of Filipino drug recoverees towards occupational
participation and justice through an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Scandinavian Journal of
Occupational Therapy, 2019; 1-14.
5. Sy M. P, et al., The birth of a national network for interprofessional education and collaboration: results froman inter-university partnership. Philippine Journal of Allied health Sciences, 2019; 3(1): 1-5.
6. Sy M. P, et al., Articulating the form, function, and meaning of drug using in the Philippines from the lens ofmorality and work ethics. Journal of Occupational Science, 2020; 27(1): 12-21.
7. Sy M. P, et al., Shared voices of Filipino occupational therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic: reflections
from an online forum. World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin, 2020; 76(1): 60-64.
8. Lee B, et al., Key factors affecting the integration of interprofessional education into human resources forhealth reform: a Lao People's Democratic Republic case study. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 2019; 33(4):356–360.
9. Watanabe H, et al., Changes in attitudes of undergraduate students learning interprofessional education in
the absence of patient safety modules: evaluation with a modified T-TAQ instrument. Journal ofInterprofessional Care, 2019; 33(6): 689–696.
(3) Difficulty
None
Activity 4
Title: Conducting annual training seminar on IPE in collaboration with other WHO CCs
Description: The Centre has provided IPE curricula since 1999, and the achievement and the effects on
attitudes of undergraduate students toward IPE and CP have been demonstrated scientifically andquantitatively. The sustainable implementation and the scientific evaluation owe much to the gentle andcareful guidance for students and teaching staff. The Centre translated its teaching materials for guidance into
English in 2011. The Centre then invited faculty members and government officers interested in IPE fromabroad, and it has organized international training courses on IPE in collaboration with JIPWEN universities inAugust every year since 2013. In the course of the development of the training course, a textbook-like material
has been prepared in discussion with WHO since the previous period of designation.
With technical advise from WHO, the Centre will continue to implement the training courses for educators andhealth practitioners interested in the introduction of IPE curricula through collaborative activities, especially in
the WPR. The Centre will organize an annual training seminar on IPE with participation of faculty from
Member States, potentially in collaboration with other WHO CCs as well as JIPWEN universities.

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Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Status: ongoing(1) Actions taken
The Centre offered IPE Training Course 2019 in Maebashi, 2019/8/26-31, to support the development of IPE
that can be adapted to various educational and social environments. Participants consisted of five fromIndonesia, four from the Philippines, and 17 from Thailand. Besides, two guest speakers from the Philippines
attended. Participants discussed the development of their own IPE programs in line with the Toolkit. During
the training course, a public international symposium “Japanese Initiative for Enhancement of Healthcare
Quality in the Western Pacific Region” was convened with the following three keynote speakers: TechnicalOfficer, Health Workforce Policy, Division of Health Systems, WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific;
Director, Division of Global Health Programs, Department of Health Planning and Management, Bureau ofInternational Health Cooperation, National Centre for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) (WHOCC/JPN-45);
Professor, Division of Broad Scope Nursing Practice, Research Institute of Nursing Care for People andCommunity, University of Hyogo (WHOCC/JPN-77).
(2) Outputs delivered
Participants expressed the willingness to initiate the development of their own IPE programs. Later, a faculty
member of the Centre was invited to the 1st PSU-IPE conference in Health Sciences 2019, in Hat Yai,
Thailand, 2019/12/2, as a keynote speaker and introduced the development of Interprofessional Education
Programme for Patient Safety.
(3) DifficultyNone
2. Annual report on other activities requested
Should WHO have requested activities in addition to the agreed workplan, please describe related
actions taken by your institution [maximum 200 words]. Please do not include in this report any
activity done by your institution thatwas not requested by and agreed with WHO.
1. The Centre sent a faculty member as a volunteer to the WHO Headquarters for the period 01 October 2019
– 31 March 2020. The staff contributed to the WHO strategy for developing and revising the curricula andtoolkit about patient safety through her experience of IPE educational approach.
2. The Centre sent three members to the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre Meeting organized
by WPRO/WHO at National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo, Japan 2019/9/6 to share outlineof activities of each WHOCC and to promote relationship between each WHOCC.
3. The Centre held a Patient Safety Conference of the Gunma Medical Association with speakers from theJapanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Maebashi, 2019/9/17, in commemoration of World Patient
Safety Day that had been promoted by WHO.
4. Four members of the Centre visited the 2019 Global Symposium on Health Workforce Accreditation andRegulation organized by WHO in Istanbul, Turkey, 2019/12/10-12 to review health workforce-relatedaccreditation and regulation.
5. Two members of the Centre visited WHO/HQ in Geneva, 2020/2/17-19, to discuss the global and nationalaction on patient safety, integrated care for aging and HRH issues, and to seek the WHO’s suggestions.
3. Resources
Indicate staff time spent on the implementation of activities agreed with WHO (i.e. those mentioned inquestions no. 1 and no. 2 above). Do not include any data related to other activities done by yourinstitution without the agreement of WHO. Please indicate staff time using the number of “full-dayequivalents” – a day of work comprising 8 hours (e.g. 4 hours work per day for 7 days should berecorded as 3.5 full-day equivalents).

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Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Number of staff involved (either partially or fully)
Senior staff

Mid-career staff

Junior staff, PhD students

7100

Number of full-day equivalents, total for all staff involved
Senior staff

Mid-career staff

Junior staff, PhD students

3504250

Implementation of the agreed workplan activities (i.e. those mentioned in questions no. 1 and no. 2above) normally require resources beyond staff-time, such as the use of laboratory facilities,
purchasing of materials, travel, etc. Please estimate the costs of these other resources as apercentage of the total costs incurred (e.g. if you incurred costs of USD 100 and the value of your staff
time was USD 50 which makes the total of USD 150, please report 33.3% and 66.7%).
Percentage of costs
associated with staff time

Percentage of costs associated with Totalother resources

15.00

85.00

100.004. Networking
Describe any interactions or collaboration with other WHO Collaborating Centres in the context of theimplementation of the agreed activities If you are part of a network of WHO Collaborating Centres,
please also mention the name of the network and describe your involvement in that network[maximum 200 words].
1. The Centre invited a member of National Centre for Global Health and Medicine (JPN-45), and theResearch Institute of Nursing Care for People and Community, University of Hyogo (JPN-77) to the IPE
Training Course 2019, from 26th to 31st August 2019, and had a discussion to strengthen the collaboration.
2. One faculty member of the Centre visited the Centre for Clinical Risk Management and Patient Safety(GRC) (ITA-104) to attend the second expert meeting for the collaborative design of the WHO GKPS inFlorence, Italy, from 2nd to 3rd December 2019, and to have a discussion to strengthen the researchcollaboration with the ITA-104, in terms of development of IPE toolkit for patient safety.
3. One faculty member of the Centre held a meeting with the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for
Quality and Patient Safety Training in the Quality Assurance Center, Ministry of Health (OMA-3) to discuss thecollaboration for development of IPE toolkit for patient safety at 2nd December 2019 in Florence, Italy.

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