Interprofessional Education Reform Under Way at American University of Beirut
The faculties of Medicine, Health Sciences and Nursing at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon, are continuing their collaboration to improve the education of health professionals, following the Lancet Commission report on “Educating Health Professionals for the 21st Century” in November 2010. Especially selected faculty from each of the three schools met in a workshop from 13-15 March 2012 to pursue reform ideas on interprofessional education, one of the report’s main recommendations that was endorsed as a priority educational reform for Lebanon at their national launch of the report’s findings on 18 May 2011.
The workshop took place at UAB’s Hariri School of Nursing and was facilitated by a consultant, Dr. Elizabeth Tanner, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. Fifteen faculty members attended, five from each of the three schools. The consultant first met with each group of faculty separately to learn about their undergraduate and graduate education programs. The next day featured a plenary session in the morning, followed by group work in the afternoon, which continued the following day.
During the group work, faculty members were split into three groups, each with representation from each faculty. The groups worked on various exercises aimed at developing ideas for Interprofessional learning experiences for medicine, nursing and public health students at AUB. There was a high level of collaboration and interest as they learned about each other in undertaking and presenting group activities.
Many ideas emerged on next steps, including a task force on curriculum to explore joint courses for students. Another idea is to introduce interprofessional education (IPE) to a wider community through organizing an IPE day at AUB. A Coordinating Committee has been selected to organize follow-up. It consists of Dr. Imad Bou Akl from the Faculty of Medicine (FM), Dr. Rima Afifi from the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), and Dr. Nuhad Dumit from the School of Nursing (HSON). They will be working with Dr. Kamal Badr, Associate Dean for Medical Education at FM, Dr. Huda Zurayk, Professor at FHS and one of the 20 global leaders who served on the Lancet Commission, and Dr. Huda Huijer, Director of HSON, as well as with other faculty who attended the workshop.
Their goal will be to join students in medicine, nursing and public health in common learning experiences that will prepare them for their working together on teams in practicing their professions in the future. This summer, for example, the Hariri School of Nursing, the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Health Sciences are jointly offering a course on “Current Issues in Geriatrics and Gerontology: Interprofessional Approaches to Care of Older Adults and Families.” The course is open to students in medicine, nursing and public health.
Canadian Public Health School Learns of Report’s Relevance to Global Health
Students and faculty at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health in Edmonton, Canada heard a presentation on the Lancet Commission report’s genesis and recommendations by one of the original commissioners. Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta—founding chair of the Division of Women and Child Health and an Endowed Professor at Pakistan’s Aga Khan University—shared some of his thoughts on the relevance of the Commission report to issues and challenges that face schools of public health and programs in global health at the school on March 19 and 20, 2012.
He made the case for why professional education needs to be transformed and used Pakistan’s efforts and his area of maternal and child health as examples of the challenges faced today in providing equitable health care.
Professor Bhutta found his audience enthusiastic to the principles in the Lancet Commission report, particularly to integrative trans-disciplinary learning. “The response from the young people was particularly encouraging,” he commented.
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India’s Innovation Collaborative to Develop Model for Teaching Interdisciplinary Leadership Skills
India is hosting one of four “innovation collaboratives” selected by the Institute of Medicine’s Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. Prof. Sanjay P. Zodpey, MD, PhD, Director of Public Health Education of the Public Health Foundation of India, presented their plans at the inaugural meeting of the Global Forum on March 8, 2012 in Washington, DC. Their project is to develop and pilot an innovative training model built on the interdisciplinary leadership skills they identify that are necessary in medicine, nursing and public health.
PHFI Workshop Focuses on Competencies for Modern Public Health
Planning is under way in Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, China and the United States to revamp public health education driven by a new understanding of the competencies required in our modern era. Recognizing the common challenges of designing competency-based curricula, the Public Health Foundation of India—in cooperation with the Harvard School of Public Health and the China Medical Board— organized a workshop in New Delhi, India on 18-19 April 2012 on “Cross-country Comparison of Master’s and Doctoral Level Public Health Programs with a Focus on Competency-Driven Curriculum.”
Participants represented the Hanoi School of Public Health (Vietnam), the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), the Indian Institute of Public Health, the BRAC University School of Public Health (Bangladesh), Fudan University School of Public Health (China), and the Harvard School of Public Health. While Asian-led, the workshop especially invited Harvard because of the importance of American accreditation standards in shaping public health education around the world.
“Stronger Teams, Better Health” Theme of UPenn Symposium
Nursing has long led the charge in advocating for interprofessional and collaborative practice and, in follow-up to the Lancet Commission report, the University of Pennsylvania’s schools of Nursing and Medicine recently hosted a symposium to continue the conversation. At “Partners in Education and Practice: Stronger Teams, Better Health” on 17 April 2012, participants examined highly-functioning interprofessional teams who are already transforming healthcare delivery as a means for building future education models.
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