DEVELOPING AN Effective and Collaborative Health Workforce

The CICHE Board of Directors meets twice annually and is composed of Deans of nine colleges here at UK:

• Agriculture, Food and Environment
• Communication and Information
• Dentistry
• Health Sciences
• Medicine
• Nursing
• Pharmacy
• Public Health
• Social Work

Click HERE to learn more about our Board of Directors

Center for Interprofessional Community Health Education

On July 1, 2022, the University of Kentucky Area Health Education Center (AHEC)  joined forces with the Center for Interprofessional Health Education (CIHE)  to establish the Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education (CICHE), in a true community-campus collaboration to develop an effective, diverse, and collaborative health workforce for the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond.

Area Health Education Center

Through UK AHEC, CICHE is engaged in a collaborative effort with the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville Health Science Center and eight regional centers to positively affect the distribution of health professionals throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  The eight regional centers, or AHECs are strategically located throughout the state. To learn more about the importance of AHECs, please visit the National AHEC Organization Website.

Center for Interprofessional Health Education

The Center is dedicated to providing leadership and sustaining the infrastructure that enables our students to acquire the critical competencies of interprofessional team-based care. CIHE got its name in 2014 when the University of Kentucky Center for Interprofessional HealthCare Education, Research and Practice decided to focus on the educational implications of interprofessional education. The original center was established on June 14, 2010, by the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees for the explicit purpose of promoting teamwork and excellence in patient- and community-centered care through interprofessional education, research, and practice.

1) Values / Ethics - Work with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values

2) Roles/Responsibilities - Use the knowledge of one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the healthcare needs of the patients and populations served

3) Interprofessional Communication - Communicate with patients, families, communities, and other health professionals in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to the maintenance of health and the treatment of disease.

4) Teams and Teamwork - Apply relationship-building values and the principles of team dynamics to perform effectively in different team roles to plan and deliver patient- and population-centered care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable.

These competencies are taken from the Interprofessional Education Collaborative's Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice.