By Cindy Abole
Public Relations

MUSC reproductive biologist Louis J. Guillette, Ph.D., discussed the importance of using sentinel species research to second-year MUSC students at the 6th annual MUSC Interprofessional (IP) Day Jan. 6.

The campuswide program promoting interprofessional education was open to first and second year students in all six of MUSC's colleges. It is sponsored by the Creating Collaborative Care (C-3) office which focuses on interprofessional education.

Second-year medical students William Stokes, second from left, Obi Okwuchukwu, Alex Novgorodov and group facilitator Dr. Donna Kern react to some comments shared by fellow student Michael Youseff, far left. The students participated in the Jan. 6 Sixth annual Interprofessional Day on campus. This year's program featured more than 1,300 students who attended morning and afternoon sessions. More than 30 staff members from all six colleges and departments were involved in the daylong event.

Participating students heard from two speakers. Second-year students learned about the importance of sentinel research and population biology with Guillette, an endocrinologist and professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Marine Biomedicine and Environmental Sciences Center. First-year students listened to Helen Haskell, a national patient safety advocate and mother of Lewis Blackman, a teenage patient who died at MUSC in 2000 as a result of a series of medical errors. Haskell helped the state pass the Lewis Blackman Hospital Patient Safety Act and led MUSC to make systemwide safety improvements to patient care.

This year's program featured more than 1,300 students who attended morning and afternoon sessions. More than 500 second-year students guided by 48 volunteer faculty-staff facilitators worked in 34 small groups to discuss the value of collaborative learning using an interprofessional case study. About 800 first-year students and 59 facilitators participated in the afternoon session that focused on an interprofessional activity and addressed professions and their stereotypes.

Charleston native Derrek McElveen, a first-year student in the South Carolina College of Pharmacy, said this year's IP Day was interesting and helpful. He especially found the small group activity discussing professional stereotypes to be enlightening. "People refer to pharmacists as pill counters, and our profession has evolved to be much more than this."

Donna Kern, M.D., associate dean for patient safety and simulation and associate dean for curriculum in the clinical sciences, served again as a facilitator for both interprofessional sessions. "This type of learning will translate into a better understanding and appreciation for what each person brings to the care of patients or even the research that makes the care possible."

More than 30 staff members from all six colleges and departments were involved in the daylong event.

Interested students who want to expand their interprofessional experiences through collaborative learning opportunities were encouraged to participate in numerous interprofessional activities including the MUSC Cares Clinic, more than 20 Interprofessional Education elective courses, the CLARION Competition, Interprofessional Education Fellowships for students, Presidential Scholars and Junior Doctors of Health program.

For information, visit the C-3 Web site at http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/c3/interprofessional/