Pioneer Valley Interprofessional Practice and Education Collaborative (PV-IPEC) Active Projects

PURCH Population & Community Health Clerkship at UMMS-Baystate

October 20 – November 2, 2021 – 2 Weeks – 80 hours immersive experience

The Population & Community Health Clerkship (PCHC) is a team-based, interprofessional, community engaged experience. Students are placed in small groups directed by academic and community preceptors from a range of professions and disciplines. Each team’s experience is unique. The overarching goal of the PHC is to provide relevant real-world context as students expand their understanding of public and population health concepts. In this clerkship, students will:

Collect, synthesize, and explain relevant population-level data
Identify the interprofessional team members who care for the population
Explore ways organizations advocate for, and with, a population to improve social and structural determinants of health
Apply knowledge toward meaningful service in a community

Learn More: PowerPoint Presentation to PV-IPEC Activities Committee on June 29, 2021

How to get involved: Contact Justin Ayala (Justin.Ayala@baystatehealth.org), Kelly Lamas (Kelly.Lamas@baystatehealth.org) or Rafnilda Nieves (Rafnilda.Nieves@baystatehealth.org)

This is a program of UMass Medical School and Baystate Health Population Based Urban & Rural Community Health Program.

Interprofessional Viewing of the “To Err is Human” Documentary

October 26th, 27th and 28th 2021 at 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Your program or facility is invited to participate in the Interprofessional Viewing of the “To Err is Human” Documentary. This is a virtual event; scheduled on the evenings of October 26th, 27th and 28th. Multiple sessions are planned to accommodate all participants from all interested programs and facilities. In order to create interprofessional groups, we request that programs and facilities divide attendees across the three sessions, if possible. There will be a separate breakout session for practitioners.

Context – While there has been significant progress over the past decade in improving patient safety, medical errors continue to be prevalent in both acute care settings and ambulatory care settings resulting in deaths, injuries, and healthcare expenditures in the United States. Massachusetts is no different as the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety reported in 2019.

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPCP) has been proven to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and improve job satisfaction. IPCP involves teamwork. However in order to function as a team, members need to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values, understand the roles and responsibilities of the members, communicate effectively, and apply the principles of effective teamwork. This movie viewing and discussion are aimed at increasing your awareness of medical errors, considering solutions, and learning from, with, and about your current and future healthcare team members.

How to get involved: Contact Peta-Gaye Porter (pporter@masshirehcwb.com), Director of Healthcare Workforce Initiatives, MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board.

Aphasia Virtual IPE Program

November 2, 2021 at 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Interdisciplinary groups of students will engage in guided discussions, facilitated by SLP students. SLP students will have read Dr. Meyerson’s powerful book, Identity Theft, co-authored with her son, Danny Zuckerman, which addresses the understudied emotional and identity aspects of recovery and rebuilding a life post-stroke. Identity Theft centers on Meyerson’s experience, but also draws on her skills as a social scientist to incorporate stories from several dozen fellow survivors, family members, friends, colleagues, therapists, and doctors she has interviewed. Grounded in this diversity of experience and Dr. Meyerson’s expertise as an identity scholar, Identity Theft provides a window into recovery of extraordinary value to interdisciplinary professionals. The program will culminate with a presentation from Dr. Meyerson and her husband Steve Zuckerman.

How to get involved: Contact Peta-Gaye Porter (pporter@masshirehcwb.com), Director of Healthcare Workforce Initiatives, MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board.

Interprofessional Elective

Spring Semester Course

Healthcare professional learners are expected to meet the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice set forth by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC, 2016) to better prepare them for team-based care with the goal of improving patient safety and population health outcomes. This blended learning approach using both synchronous and asynchronous learning is designed for healthcare learners from the Collaborating Colleges of Greater Springfield (CCGS) to overcome common barriers to interprofessional education (IPE). Learners will be introduced to the importance of best practices for professionalism, roles and responsibilities, teamwork and collaboration, communication, ethics and interprofessional practice as a means to improve the quality and safety of patient care. We are inviting students from various health professions to participate in the course and earn 2 college credits. (View Student Flyer)

How to get involved: Contact Melissa Mattison (mmattison@wne.edu), Director of Interprofessional Education and Community Reach, Western New England University.

The information provided concerns the previous class. This program runs yearly and the information will be updated once it becomes available.

PV IPEC Spring Interprofessional Day

Held annually, in the month of April

The complexity of healthcare in the United States has increased the need for health professionals to work together and create new models of team-based care. In order to prepare health profession students for collaborative practice, accreditors of health professions academic programs are requiring the inclusion of interprofessional education. Students from medicine, physician assistant studies, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work and others under the leadership of PV-IPEC work together in activities designed to target the IPEC Core Comps (Teamwork, Roles and Responsibilities, Values/Ethics, and Interprofessional Communication). Interprofessional education is defined as occurring when students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. Learn more.