September 2013 Interprofessional Health News
~by: Gail Wainwright, Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education, School of Physiotherapy
Interprofessional Health Education (IPHE) initiatives offer students from the health-related programs and Faculties at Dalhousie invaluable opportunities to interact with, and learn from, each other. These skills are essential in today’s team-based, patient/client/family focused health workplace.
Students from the Master of Science (Physiotherapy) program were asked to reflect upon their IPHE experiences during their clinical placements this past summer. The following quotations are excerpts from these comments.
Year 1 students upon completion of an MSK and an Acute Care placement:
“… I got to engage in an interesting IPHE activity surrounding Chronic Pain management. Within the group there was a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker, and physician. They did interviews with patients … and patients kept a log of their activities. It was great to see 4 different health professionals work together and share the same views on certain aspects while each having their own input based on their background. The patient got well rounded care from this model, and I believe it is great evidence of patient-centered care and how important it is.”
“One of the memorable IPHE activities I did … was being part of the Total Joint Assessment Clinic. I got a chance to work with a social worker, occupational therapist, and nurse to decide whether or not patients were ready/able to have their joint replacement. It was very interesting to see the criteria used to evaluate the patient and to be a part of the experience. It really helped me to realize that there's a whole lot more to going home after surgery than just the typical "can the patient walk 150ft?"
“... I was able to participate in weekly rounds where I was given the opportunity to talk about the needs of patients. Weekly rounds included nurses, home care nurses, physicians, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speach and language pathologists, pastoral care workers, dieticians, and pharmacists. I was given the opportunity to collaborate with theses health care workers to ensure all patient needs were met prior to discharge. This was a really amazing opportunity for me as I was able to see how each individual health professional viewed patient issues and how we all contributed to ensure patients got the best possible care.”
Year 2 students upon completion of their final two placements before graduation:
“My most memorable IPHE activity that I have engaged in would have to be for my paediatric placement. Every day was an IPHE interaction…as I worked closely with an occupational therapist and speach and language pathologist often during a combined assessment or treatment. It was wonderful to be working in a close "family" environment, it really made for an enjoyable day.”
“... I worked with a team of students so there was ocupational therapy, speach and language pathology, physiotherapy, and recreation therapy. We all took charge of our own patients and co-ordinated together and implemented parts of each other’s therapy in the session we had with the mutual patients. We also ate lunch everyday together and did activities outside of work.”
“It was great to sit down with a team to come up with a health care plan for patients. It also provided me with lots of different perspectives on health care.”
"I attended two home visits with occupational therapists to see how those inpatients would do at home and what modifications, if any, were needed for a day pass, weekend pass, and eventually discharge.”
“I enjoyed collaborating with a pharmacy student. We worked together to ensure that physiotherapy treatment was given at the appropriate time in conjunction with medications. I now understand the broad scope of the Pharmacy profession, and have another resource to consult to benefit patients.”
For more information please visit the Dalhousie Interprofessional Health Education (IPHE) website.
Students were also asked to reflect upon the relationship between the academic preparation and their placement experiences.
Year 1 students upon completion of an MSK and Acute Care placement:
“First year of PT prepared me very well …how to perform a scan, special tests, educating patients on their conditions, deep breathing, and exercise. Through placements, I learned how to truly initiate and build on a trusting relationship with a patient, which is something that could never be taught in the classroom. I also learned better problem solving skills based on individual patient differences and the equipment available around me.”
“Clinical Placements helped me to bridge the gap between practicing on normal, fairly healthy classmates to people with real impairments. It gave me an opportunity to explore the conditions and treatments taught in class in a very conducive learning environment. My clinical instructor's were fantastic at teaching me different approaches to be used throughout my career and definitely kept me interested in how diverse physiotherapy really is.”
“During my MSK placement in outpatient ortho, it was really helpful to get to put the skill I learned in school into real practice. I was given my own patients, but my clinical instructor was nearby for questions and she taught me some "tricks of the trade" I hadn't learned in school.”
“My clinical placements illustrated the complexities of health and patient care, and the importance of expertise and communication among all members of a healthcare team - including, most importantly, the patient. Patients need to be educated by healthcare professionals so that they can take on active roles in their self- care, and physiotherapists are in an excellent position to provide this service.”
Year 2 students upon completion of their final two placements before graduation:
“Things that I have learned through placements would be: Patient-therapist interactions, really how to perform a good assessment in a confident manner. More importantly I have learned that you won't always know what may be going on with someone and that is okay, you are constantly learning even after many years of practice and it is acceptable to admit that you do not know something.”
“What placements meant to me was that I was trusted as a physiotherapist by my instructor and my patients and it really hit home that I did in fact know what I was doing no matter how much I didn't think I did at times. It instilled confidence in my skills and abilities of being a physiotherapist.”
“The biggest thing that I found linked year 2 to placements was the patient projects we had to do at the end of the year. Everything in year 2 can be related in some way to placements.”
“... I finally feel like I understand everything. Last semester of classes helped to piece everything together and this placement you can actually put what you know to work. I really appreciated that differential diagnosing concepts that we learned in 2nd year classes. Finally I feel like a real life physio!”
“Learning to tackle everything with a plan, learning to critically reason out cases, and learning how to most efficiently use your time. Placements for me have been the best and only way to really consolidate what we learn in the classroom and apply it to the clinic/ hospital.”
“Placements in 2nd year meant I was able to use my skill set developed over the 2 years of school to optimally treat patients. Having a better understanding of multisystem allowed for improved differential diagnosis and treatment options.”
Thank you to all sites for mentoring our students in 2013. Clinical education is a large component of our program and we rely on your expertise, knowledge and skills to help our students on their journey towards entry level competency. We could not run our program without you!