News
December 11, 2020
Making Interprofessional Education Part of the DNA
CIPC faculty helped five diverse teams from across the globe become better team-players.
In November, five diverse teams of clinicians and administrators from health systems around the world gathered virtually to do what might have, at the outset, seemed impossible: to become better collaborators and colleagues.
On Zoom.
The twenty participants from five institutions -- including Australia's Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health System, Des Moines University, Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Florida's University of Saint Augustine, and UVA's Virginia at Home program -- spent three days steeped in interprofessional and teamwork theory and hands-on-learning. They learned the tenets of high-functioning teams, ways to improve individual and collective efficiencies, the criticality of reduce mistakes, and delved into the "why" behind their work: that all-important concept of "mattering."
Hosted by UVA's Center for Interprofessional Collaborations, or CIPC, participants took part in lively discussions, "theory bursts," breakout sessions, and, as a group, identified and plotted out specific projects to improve a system, process, or teamwork at their home institutions. Facilitators, who also provided close mentoring, included UVA T3 coordinator John Owen and CIPC faculty members Beth Quatrara, Julie Haizlip, Kathryn Mutter, Margaret Sande, Natalie May, and professor emerita Tina Brashers.
The best part, one attendee said, was "the dedicated time to come together as a team, without other responsibilities, to pause, learn theory, and practice interprofessional education and translate it into a vision and plan for our team - and learn from other teams along the way."
The T3 Interprofessional Team Development Program occurs twice a year, and has gone virtual during the global pandemic. The next conference takes place April 14-17, and November 10-13, 2021, and registration is open.