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Interprofessional education builds quicker team communication |
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Thursday, 19 March 2009 |
By JEROD ELLIOTT
Staff Writer
A new Interprofessional Education (IPE) pilot course at Niagara College means a better total health- care plan for patients.
Interprofessional Education (IPE) is a technique through which different members of a team can learn to communicate more thoroughly and quickly to offer a better end product.
The Niagara-on-the-Lake campus hosted the first annual Interprofessional Education Symposium on March 3.
IPE helps professionals as members of the health-care team to work together and understand all the areas of treatment.
The IPE pilot program involves students from the Dental Assisting, Dental Hygiene, Paramedic, Personal Support Worker, Pharmacy Technician, Practical Nursing, Recreation and Leisure Services (Therapeutic), and Social Service Worker programs.
Marti Jurmain, director of research and innovation at Niagara College, helped conceive the program to foster the traits to build an effective team.
“I think we’re growing good teams in this course,” said Jurmain, “We’ve pulled it together as a general education course. Another will be developed for anyone to join, in order for students in other disciplines to learn the necessary communication skills to build teams.”
Funding for the pilot came from Healthforce Ontario, and the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. The first round of funding, $410,000, went toward developing the program and curriculum, as well as paying student fees for the pilot students and covering the costs of the symposium.
The second round of funding, $370,000, is going toward more curriculum development and another research program aimed at students in other disciplines.
Jessica Bonfoco, a Recreation and Leisure Services student from Port Colborne, said she wanted to learn how to work together as a health team because “co-operation means client benefits.”
“The first day they threw us into it and said, ‘Find a team.’ Since then I’ve come to rely on them,” said former skeptic Sandy Sonnenberg, also of the Recreation and Leisure Services program, and of Port Colborne.
The keynote speaker at the Symposium was Millie Graham, a stroke survivor, who shared her experiences with a health-care team to stress the necessity of IPE.
Other notable speakers included a panel from the Niagara Health System and Brock University: Donna Rothwell, chief Nursing & Professional Practice officer, NHS; Dan Belford, interprofessional practice leader and respiratory therapist, NHS; Suzanne Payeur-Grenier, project leader HHR demonstration site project, NHS; and Elizabeth Horsley Nursing Learning Resource Centre coordinator, Brock University. Representing St Joseph’s Health Care Centre in Hamilton was Leanne Bradbury and Monica Alderson and from Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto was Dr. Jana Bajcar. |
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