FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, Feb. 23, 2015

Contact: Leah C. Payne, Director of Public Affairs, Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, 304-691-1713

Collaborative education helps Marshall health care students prepare for future
Colleges and programs partner for interprofessional training

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — More than 300 Marshall University students, including ones from theSchool of  Medicine, School of Pharmacy and the College of Health Professions,  are gathering over the next several weeks for a series of interprofessional education sessions designed to teach health care students collaborative team skills for providing high-quality patient care.

This is the third year for the program, which encourages students from different disciplines to learn team-building skills in the delivery of health care.   The concept of interprofessional education or common learning has gained traction over the past few years as a way to break down the traditional “silos” associated with higher education and to provide higherquality patient care.

“Having students from these different disciplines come together and work in a climate of shared values only strengthens our future health care givers,” said Amy M. Smith, assistant dean for medical education at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.  “They embrace diversity and individual differences by understanding each other’s roles and responsibilities toward patient care. This is truly the way health care in the 21^st century is designed to work.”

Dr. Michael Prewitt, dean of the MU College of Health Professions, said innovative approaches to team-based medicine allow for greater understanding of global health workforce challenges.

“For the past three years, we have been proud to partner with the schools of medicine and pharmacy to bring interprofessional collaboration opportunities to our students while increasing available resources and improving the delivery of patient care,” Prewitt said.

The objectives for the interprofessional classes were derived from the interprofessional education collaborative which has representatives from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Dental Education Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Association of Schools of Public Health.

“The planning group took the objectives set forth from the interprofessional education collaborative and designed these events,” said Brittany Riley, Pharm. D., BCPS, assistant professor, Marshall University School of Pharmacy. “The faculty involved models the importance of these objectives by working together as a group to plan these activities. It is our hope that the students understand why these objectives are important for them to master as future health care professionals.”

MU interprofessional education is a series of three events with the first event designed as a group introduction to the health care team and reviewing patient care cases.  The second independent team-based session allows the students to meet as a group and discuss the inequities of health care by watching and discussing a video, book or articles.  The third event allows the students to come together as the health care team and discuss their findings and recommendations in a simulated scenario with a standardized patient.

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Photo caption #1: Students from the Marshall University College of Health Professions, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and Marshall University School of Pharmacy gather at the St. Mary’s Center for Education for the first interprofessional education session on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Date Posted: Monday, February 23, 2015