On March 28, 2016, 91 first year uWaterloo optometry students travelled to the London Health Sciences Centre University Hospital (LHSC) for the first annual interprofessional education (IPE) day. Interprofessional educational programs have been established in health professions across Canada with the goal of providing optimal patient care.
Joining them were students from uWaterloo pharmacy and Western University medicine and dentistry. The event was also attended by students in physiotherapy and speech language pathology, bringing the total number of attendees to over 400.
IPE Day was launched by the South Western Academic Health Network (SWAHN), a group of healthcare educators and practitioners whose aim is to improve health outcomes for patients in southwestern Ontario through integrating research, education, and clinical practice.
Initiating a collaborative work environment amongst health and social workers is essential when enhancing patient care. IPE Day provided a great opportunity for students, allowing us to interact, network, and educate one another on our future roles in the healthcare field. This day was a major step forward towards inter-professional care as we become the succeeding medical professionals - Jocelyn Leung, Class of 2019.
The day began with a patient panel featuring Dr. Ian MacLean. Dr. MacLean is a physician, but at IPE Day he spoke primarily from a patient’s perspective. A cancer survivor himself, he shared lessons on how vital interprofessional care was in the management of his cancer and in his recuperation after a laryngectomy.
Following Dr. MacLean’s talk, students split into 40 groups, mixing trainees from each program. In these groups, the students also tackled patient cases, one about a family of refugees navigating the Canadian healthcare system, and the other about an elderly couple dealing with age-related macular degeneration, dementia, and a host of other chronic conditions.
The groups also brainstormed common stereotypes about the four represented fields of study. Statements like ‘pharmacists move pills from a bigger bottle into a smaller bottle’ and ‘optometrists just sell glasses’ were shared, laughed about, and then discussed at the end of the day as facilitators from each institution helped debunk popular myths.
IPE day served to teach me a lot about other health professions and debunk their stereotypes. It was also fun to meet new people from other professional programs and hear about their experiences in it thus far - Carmen Ou, Class of 2019.
Overall, the day was a huge success and plans for IPE Day 2017 are already underway!
