Interprofessional Education

Students in Belmont’s Gordon E. Inman College of Nursing will experience interprofessional learning environments from their first days on campus.

Working alongside the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, the Inman College has developed an interprofessional sequence that creates opportunities for students to learn about, from and with each other.

Training future healthcare providers to work together in these diverse teams will enhance their future patient outcomes. These experiences model the interprofessional teams students will experience as they begin their careers.

All our interprofessional events are designed to meet the core competencies of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative. Below is a sampling of events:

First Year Graduate Student Interprofessional Event

First year occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, and pharmacy graduate students are introduced to interprofessional education, practice and core competencies using team building activities.

They work together on a case which is followed by an panel of health care professionals that augments the discussion.

Second Year Poverty Case

Graduate students from the Inman College and the College of Pharmacy participate in an event that emphasizes teamwork, values and ethics as participants learn about the roles and responsibilities of other disciplines while working through a case. Using the PlaySpent simulation, students determine how their priorities/interventions change based on the case’s social challenges.

Second Year Graduate Student Interprofessional Event

Second year students from occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, and pharmacy come together for an event focused on communication and understanding each other’s professional language. 

Students learn from each other around a patient case where they interpret other disciplines’ notes, identify a medical error that’s taken place due to miscommunication and determine how it could have been prevented.

Interprofessional Ethics Simulation

Students from five disciplines (nursing, law, occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work) participate in an interprofessional simulation focusing on recognizing ethical dilemmas from a variety of stakeholder perspectives and acting consistent with their professional Code of Ethics and core values. The interprofessional team must navigate through a challenging scenario to act in the best interest of the patient while interacting with the patient’s family member and significant other portrayed by standardized actors.  Interprofessional communication, roles and responsibilities, as well as self-awareness and self-regulation of their own emotional responses are key elements of this culminating interprofessional simulation. 

Other Interprofessional Education Opportunities

Numerous other interprofessional opportunities are available to students in all disciplines, exposing students to a wide variety of professional team members in the care of their patients.

• Acute care simulations: Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy
• Go Baby Go: Occupational Therapy & Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Service Trip: Multidisciplinary
• Spirituality and Occupational Wellness Events: Multidisciplinary
• Poverty Simulation