April 6, 2022
Shawnee State University’s Department of Allied Health Sciences (AHS) hosted their annual AHS Interprofessional Education Day for all second-year students to attend. Held on campus since 2015, the event brings together all two-year AHS programs to work together through case studies. Jean McGlone, the Program Director for Medical Laboratory Technology, helps to oversee and plan the event every year.
“Students are placed into interdisciplinary teams,” said McGlone. “There was at least one student from each of the five programs represented at each table.”
The purpose of the event is to prepare students for interdisciplinary teamwork in a professional setting. The students then work in teams to answer questions based on a case study. For the past several years, the event has used the opioid epidemic in their case study, with AHS faculty members enacting roles to take care of an overdose patient.
“The case study video begins with a patient checking into the SSU Dental Hygiene Clinic and subsequently overdoses in the restroom,” said McGlone. “Emergency Medical Technicians are shown loading the patient onto the ambulance and then at the ‘hospital’ Respiratory Therapy and Radiologic Technology faculty are shown as techs working on the patient, with Medical Laboratory Technology coming to draw blood.”
One session during the event consisted of each of the teams visiting the Look & Learn tables where each program had objects unique to their discipline on display.
“It is one of my favorite sessions,” McGlone said. “The student in the team for that discipline explains the use and significance of each item as it pertains to the patient with an opioid addiction.”
Students in the AHS programs benefitted from the event by working as a team and learning about the different types of medical laboratory tests, the importance of the various healthcare professions, and how dental examinations can aid in detecting drug use. McGlone hopes that by participating in this annual event, students will use the skills they practiced in a professional environment following graduation.
“We want our students to take what they’ve learned about the scope of practice and body of knowledge of the other members of the healthcare team as they become practicing professionals,” McGlone said. “We want to foster respect and admiration between different sets of healthcare professionals.”
Students in this department are taught to advocate for patient safety as they prepare to enter the workforce. McGlone is passionate about teaching students the importance of empathy and teamwork in a healthcare environment.
“The driving force for our Interprofessional Education Day is a quote by Tassone and Hodges – ‘Patient safety will improve only when we change the way health professionals relate to each other, the way they see themselves in relation to members of their own profession and to colleagues from other disciplines’,” said McGlone.
The SSU Department of Allied Health Sciences serves the region by educating and preparing competent and responsible healthcare professionals so that they can deliver the best quality health care possible. The department’s programs include associate degrees in Dental Hygiene, Emergency Medical Technology, Exercise Science, Medical Laboratory Technology, Radiologic Technology, and Respiratory Therapy, while also offering an online bachelor’s degree in Health Science.