91探花

Early in 2021, around the anniversary of COVID-19鈥檚 arrival in Washington state, health-care workers, mentally and physically exhausted after a year like no other, saw a new train barreling toward them: the need to vaccinate as many people as possible, as rapidly as possible.

Ask anyone in the UW鈥檚 top-ranked health sciences schools and they鈥檒l tell you it quickly became clear that this effort was going to be an all-hands-on-deck affair. 91探花School of Nursing Director of Simulation Jocelyn Ludlow 鈥� who had, like many faculty and students, been volunteering at those frenzied early drive-through vaccination events 鈥� recognized the need for more widespread training to inoculate people efficiently. On February 22, she held her first vaccination boot camp.

Originally designed to prep nursing students, the training quickly expanded to bring together volunteers from the schools of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, social work and public health 鈥� both students and faculty, current and retired 鈥� to get shots in arms. It was a perfect example of how collaboration across health-care disciplines leads to better outcomes for patients, something the 91探花has championed for decades.

鈥淚t was bustling with activity and a sense of urgency,鈥� Ludlow says. 鈥淭he health sciences students were an untapped resource 鈥� they were eager to help and grateful for the opportunity to practice giving vaccinations before volunteering.鈥�

The boot camp was a pragmatic solution that illustrated the profound benefits of interprofessional education (IPE). 鈥淚t has been so great to see all the disciplines come together to learn how to safely administer vaccines,鈥� Ludlow notes, 鈥渨hile sharing their own experiences and strengths from their practice areas.鈥�

SIX SCHOOLS, ONE PURPOSE

The University鈥檚 commitment to IPE will be manifest in a new building that promotes even more collaboration across disciplines. 鈥淗ealth care today is about much more than how we treat injuries and illnesses,鈥� says School of Nursing Executive Dean Azita Emami, speaking about the new 91探花Health Sciences Education Building (HSEB). 鈥淚t鈥檚 about how health-care professionals can achieve better patient outcomes by working as a professional team rather than isolated individuals.鈥�

Currently under construction, the HSEB is a four-story, 100,000-square-foot, $100-million embodiment of interprofessional education (IPE). Though the technology of the space is tantalizing 鈥� virtual and augmented reality, a state-of-the-art anatomy lab, remote learning access 鈥� the mission first and foremost is to encourage collaboration and interaction among students and faculty of all six 91探花health sciences schools: dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and social work.

The HSEB will be 鈥渕ore than just a building with classrooms and labs, or a response to the need for larger buildings,鈥� Emami says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a reflection of an important and profound shift in our perspective in educating the next generation of health-care professionals.鈥�

A CULTURE OF COLLABORATION

The UW鈥檚 history with IPE goes back to 1997, when the Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education, Research and Practice (CHSIE) was formed to improve patient care through a collaborative approach to health-care education. The center began by simply bringing students together for shared courses, but much of the time was spent facing the lectern rather than interacting with other students, explains Peggy Odegard, associate dean for professional pharmacy education and an IPE liaison to the academic associate deans in the health sciences. The faculty quickly reorganized to encourage students to interact across disciplines, sharing ideas and discussing cases as teams. After all, as Odegard says, IPE means learning 鈥渁bout, with and from each other.鈥�

The about part may seem obvious, but Odegard says it鈥檚 been eye-opening watching, for example, a medical student suddenly understand 鈥� and respect 鈥� the job requirements and skills of a pharmacy student. When that clicks into place, and the students have sat with each other in classrooms as they study subjects relating to both professions, they鈥檙e better prepared to learn from one another, particularly in real-world simulations where teamwork is essential.

That teamwork, says Odegard, sparks the 鈥渁ha鈥� moments 鈥� where students see how they can give better care as a group than as individuals. 鈥淎t the UW, you really feel a culture of collaboration, and that鈥檚 given us an advantage in interprofessional education,鈥� she notes. 鈥淭his is how we work together 鈥� this is just how we do things.鈥�

Scheduled for completion in May 2022, the new building will educate students in a range of cross-disciplinary curricula, from basics like taking blood pressure and assessing geriatric health to making shared decisions and working to end racism in clinical care 鈥� and, yes, vaccine training. Odegard notes the benefits to learning emotionally charged topics (like assessing risks of suicide, or responding to child or elder abuse) together, training students for these nuanced interprofessional work situations.

But IPE is more than just classroom curricula. The other integral component, according to CHSIE director of operations Tracy Brazg, is community engagement 鈥� embodied in the mobile health outreach van launched last spring. The Sprinter, a van outfitted with everything you鈥檇 find in a clinic, is designed to meet populations where they are, with cross-disciplinary teams of student volunteers.

With the Sprinter, students from a variety of fields can train 鈥渙ut in the community, to experience real-life application of things they鈥檙e learning in the classroom,鈥� says Brazg. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a literal vehicle for collaboration.鈥�

BETTER TOGETHER

As a family physician working in Idaho, Suzanne Allen has experienced firsthand how collaborative care benefits professional practice. Allen, 91探花Medicine vice dean for academic, rural and regional affairs, works alongside pharmacists, social workers, dieticians and other health professionals to treat patients at a community health center. The successes she has experienced 鈥� like the transformation she鈥檚 seen in patients previously reluctant to seek care 鈥� she credits not just to her own hard work but to the efforts of the team.

鈥淚 alone don鈥檛 have everything a patient needs,鈥� Allen says. 鈥淸I鈥檓 a better physician] because I have other health professionals around me that help me provide care to these patients. I could not have done this on my own.鈥�

That conviction 鈥� we鈥檙e better together 鈥� is at the heart of so much of the UW鈥檚 work in the community, from COVID vaccine programs to training tomorrow鈥檚 health professionals in the new HSEB.

鈥淭eam-based care has changed the face of medicine: the number of errors, the overall quality of care,鈥� says Anne Hirsch, School of Nursing associate dean for academic affairs, who鈥檚 been active in vaccination efforts. 鈥淏ut you can鈥檛 expect graduates to embrace team-based care if they [weren鈥檛 educated in] that. We鈥檙e really blessed with having all the sciences together 鈥� it allows cross-fertilization and synergy. The biggest outcome is high-quality patient care. That鈥檚 the ultimate goal.鈥�