This past year has taught us important lessons about the positive impact of teamwork during uniquely challenging times. The Center for Excellence in Collaborative Education (CECE) has made it a priority to learn how interprofessional and interdisciplinary education can make a difference in UNE students’ experience of addressing problem-solving, critical thinking, advocating health equity, building teams, and engaging patients, families, and communities in defining their priorities for health. During this year we’ve also learned that proficiency in collaborative teamwork opens up career options and leadership opportunities for our health professions graduates.
It’s with these factors in mind that we are pleased to announce that UNE students, professional staff, and faculty will be well represented at the 2021 Nexus Summit https://summit2021.nexusipe.org/, an annual conference sponsored by the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education. The Summit will once again be virtual and take place over a span of five (5) days across September and October. Nexus themes include the following: Innovations in Interprofessional Clinical and Academic Learning; Innovations in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice; Patient-Engaged and Co-created Practice and Education, and The Nexus of Health Equity.
At the Summit, the UNE community will showcase interprofessional education, research, and practice. Three (3) presentations, including two cross-institutional projects, will describe ongoing IPE impact research. Dr. Elizabeth Crampsey1, OT, leads the team for the Office of Research and Scholarship (ORS) funded 5-year Analysis of Interprofessional Education Impact on Workplace Practice that looked at how UNE alumni are implementing IPE competencies in their unique healthcare settings. This research effort has included students from Occupational Therapy and the College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Drs. Leslie Ochs School of Pharmacy (SOP), colleagues, and students2 offer insights into the unexpected shift from in-person to virtual IPE. Adapting interprofessional student learning in response to COVID-19 is based on surveys conducted following an inter-institutional simulated team immersion with Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences’ (RFUMS) DeWitt C. Baldwin Institute for Interprofessional Education. Another collaboration led by Baldwin Institute Research Specialist Tamzin Batteson3, Critical Discourse Analysis: An Innovative Approach to Assessing Student IPE Competencies During Simulated Telehealth Encounters, assessed skills and attitudes for cross-disciplinary communication. This research effort has included a three person student team of future pharmacists from both UNE and RFUMS.
Medical students’ collaborative clerkships will be highlighted in the presentation by COM faculty Jenifer Van Deusen, M.Ed. Designing Unique IPE Clinical Learning Experiences for Medical Students and Other Trainees, which details COM’s initiative to ensure that all COM students are exposed to shared teamwork practices in their clinical rotations. These activities are actively informing the latest re-write of the national IPEC Competencies, tentatively due to be released in early 2023.
Drs. Chris Hunt, Hwyda Arafat (COM), and Shelley Cohen Konrad’s (CECE) talk Exploring power and unspoken biases in interprofessional education and practice will delve into power dynamics in the field. The team will facilitate conversations about unacknowledged exclusionary and hierarchical practices in health curriculum. Dr. Cohen Konrad is also partnering with colleague Dr. Barbara Maxwell from A. T. Still University to pose the question should we be considering Patients in the care team or the patient’s care team?
The interprofessional student team of Michaela Myerson (SOP ‘22), Elisabelle Bocal (MSW ‘24), William Rinaldi (COM ‘24), Sean Callagy (COM ‘24), & Katie Santanello (COM ‘24) had two (2) posters accepted by Summit reviewers: Hindsight is 2020: Plan, Perform, Evaluate (P.P.E.) – An Interprofessional Review and Pandemic Playbook highlights a multi-disciplinary framework that offers recommendations for addressing future pandemics; and Interprofessional Approach to Learning: A Mixed-Method Study of Student Involvement in Interprofessional Work and Perceived Impact on Effectiveness as a Healthcare Professional, investigates the benefits of collaborative learning and practice.
In addition to accepted abstracts, UNE will have presence in plenary and invited programming. Dr. Cohen Konrad, Director of CECE, will host a plenary session, What Matters Most – Practical Models for Designing and Delivering Interprofessional Practice and Education Programs with Individuals, Families, and Communities. Professor Arabella Perez from UNE’s School of Social Work is a guest panelist along with Dr. Nethra Ankam (Thomas Jefferson), Maritza Gomez (Camden Coalition), and a yet to be named community member. Dr. Cohen Konrad will follow the plenary with a Conversation Café on this same topic co-facilitated with Dr. Kelley Harmon (MaineGeneral Health) and Susan Dudley Gold (Vet-to-Vet Maine).
The 2021 Nexus Summit offers remarkable opportunities for cross-professional learning and national networking. Registration is open and we urge those interested in advancing knowledge of IPE and collaborative practice innovations to take a look at the schedule and register to attend https://summit2021.nexusipe.org/register.
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1 Co-authors include: Drs. Shelley Cohen Konrad (CECE), Emily Dornblaser (SOP), Stephanie Nichols (SOP); Kira Rodriguez (CEPH), Kris Hall (CECE), and students Dakota Rogers (OT), Caroline Jaeger (COM), and Stephanie DeCarvalho (COM).
2Co-authors include: Drs. Danielle Candelario (RFUMS), Emily Dornblaser (SOP) and Sarah Garber (RFUMS), Kris Hall (CECE), Tamzin Batteson (RFUMS), Kira Rodriguez (CEPH) and students Kaleia Collins (RFUMS), Sandra Schipelliti (SOP), and Rayan Smith (RFUMS).
3Co-authors include: Drs Leslie Ochs (SOP), Emily Dornblaser (SOP), Liz Crampsey (OT), and Danielle Candelario (RFUMS)and Professor Lambdin-Parravina (OT), Sarah Garber (RFUMS), Kira Rodriguez (CEPH), and Kris Hall (CECE).