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

07-2018 to 07-2019

1. Annual report on the agreed workplan
Describe progress made on the agreed workplan. For each activity, detail (1) the actions taken, (2) the
outputs delivered, as well as (3) any difficulties that may have been encountered. Three responses are
expected. [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 Pacific
Action 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. The
Centre 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 with three students to the All Together Better Health IX in Auckland,
New Zealand, 2018/9/3 -6.
2. The Centre sent three faculty members to the Faculty Development activity at Kumamoto University tointroduce and support the IPE development in the University, Kumamoto, Japan, 2018/9/18.
3. The Centre sent a faculty member to the Workshop themed “Nursing Scenario Simulation Teaching andClinical Thinking” organized by the Beijing Nursing Association in Beijing to promote IPE, China, 2018/11/12.
4. The Centre sent a faculty member to the 1st ASEAN Interprofessional Education Workshop 2018 to give a
presentation titled “PE model, competencies and learning outcome”, in Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand,
2018/12/13-14.
5. The Centre sent four faculty members to the PMAC2019 in Bangkok, Thailand, 2018/1/31-2/3.
6. The Centre sent two faculty members to the 1st International Education workshop themed “Collaborate for
Health: Developing Competencies thru Interprofessional Education”, and made presentations about thevalues, implementations, and effects of IPE at University of the Philippines, College of Nursing (WHOCC:
PHL-13), Manila, Philippines, 2019/5/25-26.
(2) Outputs delivered
1. Four JIPWEN universities including the Centre performed 16 presentations related to IPE in theinternational conferences such as All Together Better Health (ATBH) IX in in Auckland, New Zealand,
2018/9/3 -6.
2. A faculty member of the Centre gave a presentation “Interprofessional Education and Working: Global andregional initiatives” in the Conference on IPE and CP for the Community Care organized by Korean
Association of Occupational Therapists, in Eroom Center, Seoul, Korea, 2019/1/11.
(3) Difficulty
None
Activity 2
Title: 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 with
the 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 for
UHC, 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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ANNUAL REPORT
Status: ongoing(1) Actions taken
In 2016, the UHS embedded an IPE concept into a pre-qualifying community-based training program as the
4th 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 submitted to the Journal ofInterprofessional Care last year. The editors of the journal requested quantitative analyses of the data for
publication. The Centre, then, amended the manuscript with quantitative data analyses. It was resubmittedwith the title “Key factors affecting the integration of Interprofessional Education into human resources forhealth reform: a Lao People’s Democratic Republic case study”, which was accepted for publication.
(2) Outputs delivered
1. A report on the effectiveness of the IPE initiative implemented in Lao PDR has been accepted in a peerreviewed scientific journal, Journal of Interprofessional Care (Doi: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1646229).
2. The Centre invited Director of EDC of the UHC, Lao PDR to the IPE Training Course 2018 (2018/8/20-25)
and the concrete results of the research outcome were shared with EDC of UHC.
(3) Difficulty
None
Activity 3
Title: 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 be
acquired. 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 of
health profession education. The ownership of the reports and/or publications will be vested in the WHO
Collaborating Centre.

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ANNUAL REPORT
Status: ongoing(1) Actions taken
1. The Centre encouraged faculty members of JIPWEN universities as well as the Centre itself to conduct
research on the effects of their unique IPE programs and publish their findings in globally-endorsed scientificjournals. Then five JIPWEN universities published eight scientific papers in English.
2. The Centre sent a member to the Patient safety and risk management, SDS/HQ/WHO from October 2018
to March 2019 to conduct literature review in terms of IPE and patient safety. Then six articles were extracted,
which lead to a conclusion that an interprofessional patient safety education at the undergraduate level is afundamental necessity to promote effective teamwork and communication in multi-professional teams andensure patient safety.
(2) Outputs delivered
Eight scientific papers in English:
1. Makino T, et al. Health science students’ attitudes towards healthcare teams: A comparison between two
universities. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 2018; 32: 196-202.
2. 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. J. Interprof. Care, 2019.
in press. DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1598951.
3. 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. In press,2019. Doi: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1646229.
4. Abe H, et al. (JIPWEN university) Development of the Undergraduate Version of the Interprofessional
Learning Scale (UIPLS). Journal of Allied Health, 2019; 48: 3-10.
5. Tomotaki A, et al. (JIPWEN university) The development and validation of the Evidence炼Based Practice
Questionnaire: Japanese version. International Journal of Nursing Practice. 24(2): e12617, 2018, doi:
10.1111/ijn.12617炽
6. Imafuku R, et al. (JIPWEN university) What did first-year students experience during their interprofessional
education? A qualitative analysis of e-portfolios. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 32(2), 358-366, 2018.
7. Haruta J, et al. (JIPWEN university) Validity Evidence for Interprofessional Performance Scale inConference (IPSC) in Japan. MedEdPublish, 8(1): 54, 2019.
8. Maeno T, et al. (JIPWEN university) Interprofessional education in medical schools in Japan. PLoS One, 14(1): e0210912, 2019.
9. A report describing the results of literature review entitled “Application of the interprofessional approach topatient safety education, including different teaching methodologies” was submitted to WHO in April 2019.
(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 2018 in Maebashi, 2018/8/20-25, to support the development of IPE
that can be adapted to various educational and social environments. Participants were eight Indonesians,seven Filipinos and one Laotian. Besides, two guest speakers from Thailand, one guest speaker from thePhilippines, and four faculty members with ten university students from Korea attended. Participants
discussed the development of their own IPE programs in line with the Toolkit. During the training course, apublic international symposium “Introduction and Implementation of Interprofessional Education (IPE) in Asia”
was convened with the following six keynote speakers: Regional Coordinator, Asia Pacific Network on HealthProfessional Education Reform, Thailand; Associate Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahasarakham
University, Thailand; Visiting Professor, Angeles University Foundation, the Philippines; Director of WHO CC
for Disaster Risk Management for Health, University of Hyogo (WHOCC/JPN-75); Director, Interprofessional
Education Research Center, Chiba University (JIPWEN University); and Director, Center for Medical
Education, Sapporo Medical University (JIPWEN University).
(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 ASEAN Interprofessional Education Workshop 2018, in Siriraj
Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, 2018/12/13-14 to provide suggestions about the program development.
(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 member, Dr. Takechi, as a volunteer to the WHO Headquarters for the period 01
October 2018 – 31 March 2019. The staff contributed to the WHO strategy in Patient Safety and Infection
Prevention and Control through his experience of IPE educational approach.
2. The Centre sent two members to the Third Regional Forum of WHO Collaborating Centres (WHO CCs) in
the Western Pacific to show the Centre’s activities and strengthen the collaboration with other WHO CCs in
the Western Pacific, 2018/11/22-23.
3. The Centre sent three faculty members to the Meeting on Health Professional Education Reforms inTransition Economy Countries organized by WPRO/WHO at University of Health Sciences in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia 2018/4/24-25 to support educational reforms in those countries.
4. Three members of the Centre visited WHO/HQ in Geneva, 2018/1/14-16, to discuss Education andTraining in Medication Safety, Infection Prevention and Control, and HRH issues and to obtain theirsuggestions.
5. Three members of the Centre visited WHO/WPRO in Manila, 2019/5/7, to seek their suggestions about therole of the Centre in the new agenda introduced to the Western Pacific Region.
6. The Centre sent two faculty members to the Third Meeting on Health Professional Education Reforms inTransition Economy Countries organized by WPRO/WHO in Shanghai, China 2019/7/23-25 to support
educational reforms in those countries.
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-day
equivalents” – 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).
Number of staff involved (either partially or fully)
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Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Senior staff

Mid-career staff

Junior staff, PhD students

5

10

0

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

Mid-career staff

Junior staff, PhD students

295

447

0

Implementation of the agreed workplan activities (i.e. those mentioned in questions no. 1 and no. 2
above) 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 WHOCC (JPN-75) to the IPE Training Course 2018, 2018/8/20-25, andhad a discussion to strengthen the collaboration.
2. The Centre sent a faculty member to the Peking Union Medical College, a WHOCC (CHN-129) in China,
2018/11/12, to strengthen the research collaboration with the WHOCC.
3. The Centre participated in the 1st WHOCC WPR Meeting (Online meeting) coordinated by WHP/WPRO to
discuss and share their WHO CC activities. The participating WHO CCs included AUS-98, KOR-16, AUS-93,
JPN-45, JPN-58, JPN-77, AUS-137 and JPN-89.
4. Two faculty members of the Centre visited the University of the Philippines, College of Nursing (PHL-13),
Manila, Philippines, 2019/2/26, to discuss collaboration in terms of scientific research on the effects of IPE.

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