The Scope
An Independent Quarterly Publication of the UMDNJ Student Senate
The Scoop: Interprofessionalism at UMDNJ? What’s all the Fuss About? By Yuri T. Jadotte, MD, SN/NJIT/RU ’15 It seems lately that there is an increased fuss about interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPE or IPCP). This is most definitely happening at UMDNJ (see President Rodgers’ messages to the university since January 25, 2012 at http://www.umdnj.edu/home2web/RHE/ messages.htm). But is this some isolated trend? Is UMDNJ’s emphasis on becoming the “New Jersey Health Sciences University” or NJHSU a desperate attempt at salvaging what will be left of UMDNJ after the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the School of Public Health merge into Rutgers UniversityNew Brunswick? While that argument certainly can and is being made, I challenge that there is also a broader vision at play here, a vision consistent with regional, national and international trends. For starters, this idea of interprofessional or interdisciplinary education has existed at UMDNJ for at least a decade. A great example is the PhD program that I am currently a part of. It is the PhD in Urban Systems, which is jointly held between Rutgers University-Newark (through the School of Public Affairs and Administration), NJIT (through the School of Architecture) and UMDNJ (through the School of Nursing). Yes, my friends, I, as a resident physician, am currently attending an educational program where one of the three academic components is based at a school of nursing. I cannot tell you how critical my own peers in medicine, as well as how skeptical other individuals at the school of nursing have been when they find out I am actually a student there. Perhaps they have reason to be… But why do I bother telling you this anecdote about my own academic background? Because I would like to illustrate to you one of the reasons why the health professions have not been able to accomplish the goal of interdisciplinary collaboration: because there is too much emphasis on turf control, and too little regard for mutual turf recognition (aka scope of practice) while allowing for some crossing of boundaries for the common goal of improving patient care. That is the fundamental divide in my opinion. Now if you wish to learn more about the idea that the imperative for IPE and IPCP is both national and international, you should consult the Institute of Medicine 2003 report and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative 2011 report (all of which can be found by a simple google search, but we have made it easy for you to find by posting them on the Senate google site, see bottom of p. 16 for the link). Albeit, these reports are fairly extensive, so if you are pressed for time now, you may have to leave it for the summer or read the summary. (continued on right)
Eight Schools, One Voice
(continued from left) What I wish to conclude with is a quick analysis of where UMDNJ is currently positioned in terms of truly being an institution that values interprofessional education and its potential for improving patient care. What I have done below is use some of the key challenges of interprofessional education identified by IPEC (p. 34) and applied my perspective, as a long-standing student at UMDNJ, to these issues at our beloved university. For each point, part A will discuss what my perspective is on the situation at UMDNJ, while part B will identify potential solutions to these problems (including student initiatives, believe it or not!) and ideas on UMDNJ’s potential on this issue. So here we go: 1.
Institutional Level Challenges: here they describe how the lack of top level administrative support can impede the evolution of interprofessional education. A. Like anything else at a major university, anything that lacks the support of the administration is unlikely to either take root or last very long. This is true of UMDNJ as well, whether it’s related to the academic curricula, research, faculty development, you name it, chances are it needs some top level support. The reasons for this are too numerous to elaborate on here, but the fact remains true. B. Fortunately, in the area of interprofessional education, it appears that UMDNJ does in fact have full support from the highest levels of the administration. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on the other levels of administration, particularly at individual schools, and whether or not IPE/IPCP initiatives will truly be fully supported and implemented. (continued on p. 7)
May 2012, Page 6