The IpAC Program was established in 2010, following the receipt of a Commonwealth Government Increased Clinical Training Capacity (ICTC) grant to establish a program that offered new or increased clinical placements for undergraduate students from all health disciplines at Edith Cowan University (ECU) and medical students from the University of Western Australia (UWA).
Located at ECU’s Joondalup Campus, the IpAC Program addresses the need for varied clinical placements, both internally and externally, which meet the requirements of the different health disciplines involved in the Program.
The focus of the IpAC Program includes a community clinic located on ECU’s Joondalup campus (the IpAC Unit) that promotes chronic disease self-management through an interprofessional learning environment where health education and support is provided to the community and clients have the opportunity to access a range of different health disciplines.
Externally, the IpAC Program has provided experienced, interprofessionally trained, clinical supervisors from a range of health disciplines to support students and facilitate the clinical placements. These external clinical placement sites are located both within the Perth metropolitan area and rural and remote areas.
The Increased Clinical Training Capacity Program was developed by the Australian Government to provide one-off immediate relief to clinical training capacity constraints for entry-level health professionals in the short term.
The objectives and outcomes of the program are to improve the capacity, quality and mix of the health workforce clinical placements to meet the requirements of health services through training. The grants provide funding for projects that: