SMHS hosts third annual Interprofessional Health Day

The UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) third annual Interprofessional Health (IPH) Day was held on Friday, Sept. 18. The event gave students from different health professions in North Dakota an opportunity to learn more about one another’s roles and practice working together as members of an interprofessional healthcare team.

Approximately 275 students from UND’s nursing, medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy, medical laboratory science, nutrition and dietetics, social work, sports medicine, biomedical sciences, and physician assistant programs attended, along with students from the NDSU School of Pharmacy.

“So much time and effort went into planning this year’s IPH Day, and it was so fulfilling to finally see everything come to life,” explained second-year medical student Therese Byankuba. “My favorite part of the day was watching groups of students who didn’t know each other walk into the room as strangers and leave smiling and laughing together. To me, that’s truly what IPH Day is about: building connections across different health professions and reinforcing the idea that we are all part of the same team.”

A Fargo, N.D., native, Byankuba added that skills-building and learning teamwork is only part of the day’s purpose.

“Learning more about one another and breaking down stereotypes (about other professions) while we’re still in training can help us enter the workforce feeling less intimidated by other professions and more empowered to use our voices and appreciate each other’s strengths,” Byankuba said. “This leads to better teamwork and better patient care.”

SMHS Dean Marjorie Jenkins welcomed students to the event and was followed by keynote speaker Jennifer Timm, director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education and a clinical associate professor in the UW–Madison School of Nursing. Much of Timm’s work focuses on interprofessional education and finding ways to better prepare health professions students to work together in clinical practice.

UND College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines Dean Maridee Shogren provided closing comments for the event.

Students participated in mixed interprofessional groups and rotated through three activities: a case competition, simulation activities in the SMHS Simulation Center (inpatient, outpatient, and care conferencing), and an interprofessional panel. Students practiced communication, teamwork, and collaboration with the goal of approaching the situations as a healthcare team rather than only from the perspective of their own profession. The interprofessional panel featured healthcare professionals from different disciplines sharing their experiences working with other professions.

Each student had an individualized schedule to guide them through all three rotations, allowing them to interact with students from several programs.

“For the third year in a row we’ve had a high quality interprofessional education event with outstanding attendance by students from multiple professions in an active learning environment,” said Eric Johnson, chair of the SMHS Office of Interprofessional Education, which hosted the event. “This is another example of our robust interprofessional education offerings here at SMHS.”

For Johnson, the success of IPH Day is the result of dedicated planning by a diverse array of UND students.

“Because this is a student-driven event with faculty oversight, none of this happens without student leaders,” Johnson said. “I’d like to thank the faculty and students from the Interprofessional Student Interest Group and Simulation Interest Group – plus Courtney Maguire from the SMHS Simulation Center.”

Byankuba agreed, explaining how “Having leaders from different colleges come together to begin and end the event really displayed that interprofessional collaboration is something we value not only as students, but as an institution.”

Planning is already underway for next year’s IPH Day.