As the United States’ first disability-specific leadership academy in state government, the Leadership Academy for Excellence in Disability Services is a year-long competency-based training experience designed for employees who manage programs that impact the lives of Tennesseans with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The Tennessee Department of Human Resources, in collaboration with the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities, began implementing this program in 2017. The lasting impact of such a training experience on the practices of state employees once they complete the program is not known; this was the aim of the study. A follow-up survey examining graduate perceptions and outcomes was sent to 71 graduates; 48 completed the measure. The results reveal an increase in knowledge of disability service systems and a perceived ability to lead and advocate for others. Leadership competencies deemed most important to graduates’ current efforts in state government included developing direct reports, managing diversity, organizational agility, and innovation management. Graduates’ written comments cited the variety of subject matter experts, networking opportunities, and small group projects as fundamental in breaking down barriers to cross-agency collaboration in their disability work. The impact of this experience continues to be seen years after completing the leadership academy.

Background: Polypharmacy remains a significant challenge, often leading to adverse drug events and increased healthcare costs. One effective strategy to mitigate these risks is deprescribing, the systematic and intentional discontinuation or reduction of medications. Despite growing recognition of deprescribing’s importance, limited research has examined the impact of interprofessional education interventions on developing deprescribing competencies among healthcare professional students. This study aims to examine the perspectives of healthcare students, including student pharmacists, medical students, and nurse practitioner students, regarding their roles and responsibilities in the deprescribing process. Methods: Following completion of a Deprescribing Interprofessional Education Simulation activity (DIPE-SA), participants were invited to join focus groups. The study included students from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) underpinned the qualitative research approach, informing the development of the study framework. Each focus group was facilitated by two researchers and recorded. Recruitment continued until saturation was achieved. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed for themes using Dedoose, qualitative analysis software. Results: A total of 19 participants attended four focus groups. Three major themes emerged and guided the development of the Roles–Collaboration–Communication (RCC) interprofessional framework. The first theme, roles, focuses on the unique responsibilities and functions healthcare professionals assume within the team and throughout the deprescribing process. The second theme, collaboration, emphasizes coordinated efforts and shared decision-making among members of the interprofessional healthcare team in deprescribing. Finally, the third theme, communication, highlights the importance of effective information and intention exchange, serving as both a mediator and connector, linking roles and collaboration, and ultimately enabling successful deprescribing. Conclusions: This study’s findings, together with the RCC interprofessional framework, demonstrate the interplay of roles, collaboration, and communication in medication management. The RCC framework highlights the value of dynamic team processes for achieving safe and effective deprescribing, which in turn improves patient care and health outcomes.