INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION (IPE) EXPERIENCE Interprofessional Education (IPE) is defined as when two or more students from different disciplines learn together as part of their professional development. Such collaborative efforts help to ensure that students pursuing careers in the health sciences will know and understand how to interact with a multi-disciplined team of health care professionals. Students from the University of Wyoming Division of Social Work joined students from throughout the College of Health Sciences, including the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing, UW School of Pharmacy and the WyomingWWAMI Medical Education program, for a virtual IPE discussion in March, to learn more about how their health care professions would interact once they entered their career fields. “The presentation and group interaction I was present for in the College of Health Sciences Interprofessional Education Event was very beneficial to me,” said Charleigh Cole, a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) student from Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming. “There are many aspects of Social Work I need to focus on to complete my degree at the University of Wyoming and this leaves little time to explore other fields that I will inevitably be interacting with throughout my career as a social worker,” said Cole. “This event removed barriers between professional fields of study that typically operate independently. It allowed us to ask one another questions and give our own points of view from the perspective of our own area of study. I will be attending the next event like this
that I am able as learning from people in other professions is equally as important as sharing our own knowledge.” Kym Codallos, Assistant Lecturer with the Division, worked with other college educators to coordinate the event, which included a total of nine social work students. Students were gathered into Zoom ‘breakout rooms.’ Next, groups of students, each with a mix of medical, social work, pharmacy and nursing students were given the same opioid use disorder case scenario, and told to interact with each other on treatment options and patient observations. The scenario involved an older adult female visiting an emergency medical department during weekend hours. The patient stated she was having a “flare” of her arthritis, and needed an early refill for her prescription of Oxycontin and immediate release oxycodone. Her primary care physician was not available to contact. Student groups discussed various objective outcomes for treating the patient in the case scenario, along with noting any perceived bias on the part of health care providers relating to other possible perceptions of the patient’s request. Students then rejoined faculty members to talk about what they had learned from interacting with each other as health care providers representing social workers, physicians, pharmacists and nursing professionals. “This event removed barriers between professional fields of study that typically operate independently. It allowed us to ask one another questions and give our own points of view from the perspective of our own area of study.” – Charleigh Cole Noting the importance of students from different health care disciplines being able to interact in a collaborative learning environment, Codallos explains, “Interdisciplinary learning experiences are vital preparations for the multidisciplinary team work required to be a successful professional in today’s workplace. I really enjoyed working with the students and saw real benefit to their participation.” 3
