Students from the Methodist University College of Health Sciences & Human Services gathered with students from the inaugural class of the Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine at MU’s Huff Concert Hall for the first of what will be multiple Interprofessional Education events between the CHSHS and SOM every semester. Departments within the CHSHS have been holding IPE events for more than a decade.
Students from the Methodist University College of Health Sciences & Human Services gathered with students from the inaugural class of the Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine at MU’s Huff Concert Hall for the first of what will be multiple Interprofessional Education events between the CHSHS and SOM every semester. Departments within the CHSHS have been holding IPE events for more than a decade.
“This is a great opportunity for students who have different majors and are going into different careers to learn from and about each other to explore the core principles of values & ethics, roles & responsibilities, interprofessional communication skills, and teams & teamwork,” said Becky Wise, PharmD, the director for Interprofessional Education & Collaboration at the School of Medicine.
Effective interprofessional healthcare teams are shown to dramatically improve patient care outcomes, and the benefit of IPE sessions like these is for each student to understand that benefit early in their education. The first of these unique events was titled “Healing Together: An IPE Wound Care Experience,” and used a simulated wound-care scenario for a diabetic patient case.
“The IPE experiences at MU focuses on having students of all healthcare professions learn with and from one another,” said Stacia Thompson, DPT, program director of MU’s Physical Therapy Department and IPE committee co-chair along with Melissa Ayscue, an MU assistant professor of Nursing and simulation director. “It’s not just about learning patient care principles; it’s about learning to work as a team, which benefits the entire community.”
The second IPE event for these MU students will be an exploration of assistive devices. Later this year, there will be another about “Why Mobility Matters.” The CHSHS has been doing IPE events for ten years
“For me, the IPE event was a great opportunity to learn alongside my future teammates,” said School of Medicine student Hunter DiGiacomo. “Medicine is a team sport, and being able to practice communication and knowledge sharing in a collaborative environment was incredibly useful because these skills will be key in providing the best team-based patient care possible.”