Leading Interprofessional Cultural Change: WCHP IPE champions to present their work in Toronto

Representatives from the WCHP faculty, administration and student body will present from January 23-25 at the University of Toronto’s annual InterProfessional Education Conference. Hosted by the Ontario IPE Collaborative, this year the conference is focused on leading cultural change. In three separate presentations, our UNE colleagues will share their best practices, innovations and research findings with an international audience of health educators, policy makers, and health practitioners.

Shelley Cohen Konrad PhD, LCSW, Cathy Plourde, Add Verb Executive Director, Clay Graybeal, PhD will present Creativity and Innovation in Interprofessional Shared Learning.  Creative teaching innovations for interprofessional health education learning will be demonstrated by highlighting UNE’s new partnership with Add Verb Productions.  Add Verb Productions utilizes critical healthcare issues such as domestic violence, sexual assault, heterosexism and eating disorders as focal points to address interprofessional communication, cultural competency and teamwork. The use of such shared learning models at UNE encourage students to be reflective and to think critically and collectively thus enhancing their professional skill development. The goal of this workshop is to expose other health professionals to the use of such promising teaching methodologies as effective interprofessional health education methods.

Jennifer Morton, D.N.P., M.S., M.P.H. will give a paper on Introducing a Model for Interprofessional Immersion in Cultural Settings (MIICS). This presentation will illustrate her model for interprofessional immersion in cultural settings. Dr. Morton takes groups of UNE students to Ghana, West Africa twice a year for two weeks where they work side by side with local medical workers in a community-based clinic setting. Dr.Morton is now measuring student learning outcomes, including cultural awareness and teamwork skills that result from the students’ transcultural shared learning experiences.

Eileen Ricci, Assistant Professor and Jaimie Ward, DPT student from the department of Physical Therapy will present a poster on Transdisciplinary Playgroup: Interprofessional Training in the Promotion of Development, Physical Activity, Health and Playfulness in Toddlers. This family centered, inclusive playgroup for children aged eighteen months through two years (toddlers), and a parent group for their parents, was conducted by OT, PT, Social Work and nursing students and faculty on campus in the Spring of 2010. Although they will not all be attending the conference, the training and poster were planned by Eileen Ricci, PT, DPT, MS, PCS; Kathryn Loukas, OTD, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA; Shelley Cohen Konrad,  PhD, LCSW; Jennifer Morton, DNP, MPH, RN; Jaimie V Ward, BKIN and Ashley Tremblay, MS, OTR/L.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.