by Alyssa Speicher, Public Relations Writer
Cedarville University’s School of Pharmacy has started an interprofessional education (IPE) initiative designed to prepare students for work with other healthcare professionals. This year, the school has participated in several IPE events with students in various health profession programs at nearby University of Dayton and Wright State University.
The healthcare field is inherently collaborative, so IPE encourages students to collaborate with other professionals, allowing them to recognize their own role in the field and appreciate the roles of others. The initiative addresses the core competencies developed by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative and addresses core values and ethics for interprofessional practice.
“The overall goal of IPE is to prepare students to work as part of effective interprofessional teams in order to improve population health outcomes,” said Dr. Emily Laswell, assistant professor of pharmacy and chair of the IPE taskforce at Cedarville. “It is an exciting and integrated endeavor that is possible only through collaboration among different healthcare professions, institutions and partners.”
In October, Cedarville pharmacy students partnered with students from the University of Dayton physician assistant program to solve an anemia case. The success of that event sparked plans for another collaborative exercise next spring.
In November, Cedarville pharmacy students worked with nursing and medical students from Wright State University while competing to solving a patient case and developing a treatment plan. Student groups presented their plans to a panel of interprofessional judges.
This was the first time Cedarville has collaborated with other schools to present the IPE case competition. The universities will use student feedback to improve the events and will offer similar opportunities in the future, starting April 2018.
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 3,963 undergraduate, graduate, and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings, and leading student satisfaction ratings. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu.