Sharing their story of interprofessional health care

Caring for the patient is critical in health care. And that’s made easier when disciplines work together.

Nearly 1,000 students learned about the power of collaborative care in a special interprofessional event on Wednesday, September 14 hosted by the Faculties of Health Professions, Medicine and Dentistry at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. This is the fifth year that the Faculties have hosted the event.

Paralympic gold medalist Paul Tingley and Judy Lugar, his physiotherapist and sailing world champion, shared with the attendees their experiences about the changing health care system.

The "team"

Mr. Tingley told his inspirational story of becoming a Paralympic champion. In 1994, he suffered a spinal cord injury after a skiing accident. He was treated at Victoria General Hospital and later moved to the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre. This is where he says he encountered the “team.”

Mr. Tingley’s team of doctors, neurologists, nurses and occupational therapists, which included Ms. Lugar, would meet weekly to discuss his progress. Through a set of goals—such as learning to dress himself—he learned how to tackle daily life in a wheelchair.

“Teams should have a good idea of who their client is,” Mr. Tingley said. “The team should respect what each other is doing and know what everyone’s goal is.”

For Mr. Tingley, his major goal was to wear braces so he could walk down the aisle at his friend’s wedding. This wasn’t easy. According to Ms. Lugar, 90 percent of quadriplegic patients don’t have the body type to handle leg braces. Then there’s the strength needed to use the braces. While Mr. Tingley, tall and in good shape prior to the accident, was a good candidate for braces, the process wasn’t easy. “It’s physically challenging,” says Ms. Lugar.

While she could have talked Mr. Tingley out of using braces, she instead helped him to achieve his goal. She says that listening is a key skill for health professionals. “Professionals need to listen and try not to be judgmental,” she said. “Be a good friend.”

Managing the transition

Three months later, Mr. Tingley left the Centre. He faced difficulties with few support systems in place for people with disabilities. With Ms. Lugar’s help, he learned to sail with Sail Able, a sailing club for people with disabilities. He won the gold medal in sailing at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

“When you leave rehab, nothing can prepare you for the transition,” he said. “They helped me build up skills so I could figure things out on my own. Luckily I found sailing.”

Ms. Lugar, who is also Mr. Tingley’s former coach, warned students against labeling people based on their past mistakes. “Patients are not just some guy with a broken neck,” she said. “Don’t think about people as their diagnosis but as a human being.”

Ms. Lugar ended her speech with a humbling message to the new students. She learned an important lesson in her early days of practice that sticks with her: the patient comes first.

“The system doesn’t revolve around me,” she said. “It’s about how you fit into the system.”