Interprofessional Team-Based Medical Education Program at Kitasato University: Collaboration Among 14 Health-Related Professions

Medical technology is quickly becoming more advanced and more narrowly specialized. At the same time, epidemiological and demographic profiles are changing drastically. Therefore, it would be difficult to provide the utmost health services unless various pieces of knowledge scattered across multiple health-related professions are integrated for practical application. Furthermore, as society’s needs for health services are also changing, it is no longer enough to treat the disease. Hence, the quality of health services is being looked at to humanize the process of diagnosis and treatment and to consider ethical, psychological, and social aspects of services. To provide quality health services, it is imperative for various health-related professionals, who are narrowly specialized, to closely work together as a team. This, in turn, requires urgent training of human resources so that such collaborative teamwork can smoothly take place.