Waldron interprofessional case study event encourages collaboration, communication in healthcare

Radford University’s Center for Interprofessional Education and Practice hosted its Interprofessional Case Study event Nov. 1 at the Artis Center for Adaptive Creativity and Innovation.

The purpose of the event was to enhance students' understanding of the unique roles, responsibilities and collaborative approaches required to provide the best quality patient-centered care, with a focus on interprofessional education and practice competencies. The event was an engaging, hands-on learning experience focused on interprofessional teamwork across healthcare disciplines. 

“Healthcare is a team sport,” noted Waldon College Dean Kenneth Cox.

The event brought together about 225 students and faculty from Radford’s Waldron College of Health and Human Services, including students from communication sciences and disorders (COSD), occupational therapy (OT), respiratory therapy (RT) and social work (SOWK) as well as the College of Nursing and the Department of Psychology. Also attending were medical students and faculty from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) from nearby Blacksburg, Virginia.  

"It was inspiring to see students from diverse disciplines collaborating toward the goal of holistic, patient-centered care," said Laura Jacobsen, interim associate dean for interprofessional education at Waldron College. "This event highlighted the power of teamwork in healthcare, and I’m especially grateful to the many faculty and staff volunteers whose dedication made this valuable experience possible for our students."

Hosting events such as the case study event is one of many avenues the Center for Interprofessional Education and Practice navigates to serve as a hub for interprofessional education and collaborative practice in Waldron College. The center’s objective is to prepare students to become healthcare and human service providers who have the skills and capacity to transform service delivery and ultimately improve patient outcomes through collaborative practice.

“Expanding interprofessional education and practice has long been one of the goals for the Waldron College of Health and Human Services,” Cox said.

At the event, students collaborated on a main case study, “The Case of Rosa Garcia,” developing a holistic care plan for an 11-year-old girl with complex medical, cognitive and social needs following a severe house fire. They also engaged in micro case discussions to practice rapid interprofessional responses to pediatric scenarios.

Participating students and faculty shared positive feedback, “emphasizing the event’s value in strengthening communication skills, building confidence in interprofessional roles and reinforcing the importance of holistic, coordinated care in real-world settings,” Jacobsen said.

Through an anonymous post-event survey, one Radford respiratory therapy student said the most valuable aspect of the event “was the collaborative aspect. We were able to actively work together to come up with a good care plan. I think it was really awesome because we don't get to actively make decisions in clinical, and this allowed us to get an actual feel for what it is like to work with all parts of the healthcare field.”

One VCOM student said the event’s value stemmed from “engaging with individuals from a wide range of disciplines and getting to hear all about what they do on a day-to-day basis and what they would do in the case scenarios we discussed. I appreciated the healthy conversation between me and my peers, and I learned a lot through this experience.”

Talking with and learning from students and faculty from other disciplines “in such an intimate way was awesome,” explained a Radford social work student in the survey. “I learned so much about coordinated care, about where I could refer people, about the nuance of roles. I found it very informative. It also taught me a lot about my own discipline's role in the medical setting.”