Abstract
The proposed project aims at providing international prospective of interprofessional education (IPE) in the curriculum of our one-unit summer elective IPE course – PHAR 2018 “Inter-professional Learning for Medication Safety”, which is designated for all year 2 or above Health Sciences and Social Work students about interprofessional collaboration for geriatric care and medication safety.
The course will focus on discussing elderly’s health and drug-related problems as an interprofessional healthcare team to equip our students to be global citizens and be ready for a rapidly changing health service environment in both clinical and community settings not only locally but also globally. As a result, we will embed internationalized elements in the course to achieve and champion the course’s objective in Summer 2021.
The internationalized components include a sharing session by an IPE teacher from an overseas institution who will share the interprofessional collaboration for geriatric patients in community and clinical setting in his/her home country. The other components include IPE sharing session from overseas students and CUHK students who enrolled the course in Summer 2020. There will be mutual learning opportunities between CUHK and overseas students for working on simulated IPE case studies. In addition, enrolled students will learn about the communication approach between different health professions in local and overseas settings.
The activities with overseas teachers and students will be conducted via online networking software such as Zoom Meeting. We hope that this project will benefit the development of IPE and facilitate internationalization in CUHK.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
To provide international prospective of interprofessional education (IPE) in the curriculum of our one-unit summer elective IPE course – PHAR 2018 - Inter-professional Learning for Medication Safety.
Activities, process and outcomes
We commenced the course with Department of Social Work’s IPE course SOWK2050 “Interprofessional Learning for Social Work in Health Care” and collaborated with the University of Toronto (UT) to incorporate new perspective and internationalization in our class. Four workshops were carried out successfully in June 2021. Our students interacted seamlessly in class with UT students and teacher with the support of Zoom Meeting. Both CUHK and UT students discussed simulated cases and took part in interviewing real patients in class. In brief, the project has achieved the expected outcomes.
Deliverables and evaluation
We implemented two assessment tools (Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Survey, ICCAS, and Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale, RIPLS) to evaluate students’ interprofessional collaborative competency in the surveys. Other evaluations included a graded self-reflection in writing, and course evaluation.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
We developed a subpage about the IPE course and prepared two introductory videos about the course’s internationalization components and pedagogy design. We also presented the project at 4 online educational forums and one presentation at a regional conference in February 2022. Meanwhile, we are preparing the submission of a manuscript about the project to education journal.
Impact on teaching and learning
We explored new form of teaching with overseas educators in class. It’s a great exposure to learn about the IPE practice from their experience and perspective, we have also gained a lot in terms of courseware development and in-class activities arrangement. With the support of Zoom meeting, we could bring UT teachers and students into our classroom to facilitate seamless interaction and discussion with our teachers, students, and patients. Both CUHK and UT students found the course interesting with positive comments. They enjoyed the real patient interactions and understanding the differences of the health systems in Hong Kong and Canada. The current project demonstrated internationalization at home.
