UNE Interprofessional Education Collaborative director gives keynote address at National IPEC Institute

Advancing and sustaining interprofessional education (IPE) was the focus of the Fall 2017 IPEC Institute, held October 18 - 20, 2017 in Long Beach, California. Shelley Cohen Konrad Ph.D., LCSW, FNAP, director of the School of Social Work and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative at the University of New England, was the invited keynote speaker, the first social worker to be asked to offer the opening address since the Faculty Institute began in 2012. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) became a member of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) in early 2016.

Richard W. Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H., introduced Cohen Konrad, who spoke to an audience that included 11 teams considered to be advanced in their IPE initiatives from across the United States. Her talk, “Achieving Robust & Sustainable IPE: A Story in Five Parts,” addressed the benefits of team-based care, cross-professional communication and the need for culture change in health care from the perspectives of patients, providers, students, and faculty. The presentation also included a screening of a short video titled, “Why Interprofessional Education Matters,” by Meg Webster of the UNE School of Social Work. It was well received by the audience. Cohen Konrad is one of many people from UNE, which is considered a pioneer in campus-based and clinical interprofessional education, who have presented at IPE and interprofessional practice conferences this year.