Advanced Initiatives in Interprofessional Education in Japan: Japan Interprofessional Working and Education Network (JIPWEN)

There has been an explosion of interest in interprofessional education (IPE) from academic Institutions around the world. Much has been published on the subject in the last decade, mainly from the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada, and Australia. Japan, on the other hand, has produced relatively few investigations of IPE, despite the fact that many medical education institutions and healthcare professionals have noted the significance of IPE in Japan. Although most Japanese medical and healthcare schools emphasize the significance of IPE with only lecture programs, several institutions have recently constructed and systemically implemented extensive IPE programs. The initiatives of these institutions have been approved as good practices by the Japanese Government, and as a result such institutions have obtained financial support for their IPE programs. Japan Interprofessional Working and Education Network (JIPWEN) has been established by these institutes. Interestingly, these initiatives are heterogeneous in contents, thus they are extremely diverse in their individual goals, methods, modules, student compositions, facilitation systems, and timing in their respective university curricula.