Integrating Interprofessional Education Through Service-Learning: Continued multidisciplinary collaboration for student-led volunteer healthcare event

Authors

Sunny Jisun Lee, University of the PacificFollow
Heather Leo, University of the PacificFollow
Sachan Bhatia, University of the PacificFollow
Byron Chou, University of the PacificFollow
Christine E. Miller, University of the PacificFollow

Lead Author Affiliation

Dentistry

Introduction/Context/Diagnosis

SCOPE (Student Community Outreach for Public Education) at University of the Pacific (UOP), Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry sponsored the 25th Annual Senior Smiles Health & Wellness Fair in its clinic, located in San Francisco on April 21^th, 2018. More than 105 San Francisco’s senior citizens with limited access to health care attended this event. As a continuation of last year’s Senior Smiles & Wellness which pioneered the launch of Interprofessional education (IPE) activities, SCOPE provided various health screenings to the senior attendees in partnership with Dugoni’s sister schools UOP Audiology and Physical Therapy program as well as Touro College of Pharmacy.

This event was designed to be a continued effort of interdisciplinary community-outreach based learning that models UOP's Dental School Helix Curriculum. This event presented a great opportunity for various health education programs to learn from each other, promoting future collaborations among healthcare providers and benefiting a larger audience.

Methods/Treatment Plan

All non-SCOPE student volunteers as well as select volunteer group from SCOPE were asked to participate in the IPE activity, which unlike last year’s lecture-style seminar, consisted of a walk-and-introduction tour before the start of the event, where each program introduced their specific roles as health care providers to promote seniors’ physical well-being.

Survey data was collected with the aim of improving the event further in the future. The IPE activity participants were asked to give feedback on their knowledge and experience after the tour.

105 seniors officially registered for the event. Pharmacy doctoral students provided services for blood pressure and glucose measurement. Dental screenings and oral hygiene instructions were provided by dental school students, while a dental faculty provided diabetes screening and education. Physical therapy students provided fall risk assessments and audiology students hearing screenings for the attendees. In addition, government agencies, private nutritionist team, health insurance company, and non-profit senior services provided assistance and counseling. After the event, all volunteers were asked to complete a post-event survey, which was modified from last year’s to include more detailed questions, was collected after the event.

Results/Outcome

The number of health screenings provided was less than last year's.

• 105 Attendees
• 64 Dental screenings
• 50 Audiology screenings
• 50 Pharmacy services
• 50 Physical Therapy assessments

Overall, similar to last year’s, nearly 90% participants responded that the interprofessional activities helped them better understand the knowledge, abilities, points of view, roles and responsibilities of the other professions. The survey results for general volunteers showed that the majority of them appreciated the service provided to the participating patients and felt that the need for the interdisciplinary activity with other professionals should be enhanced. Some of the suggestions for improvement mainly included the logistics of the event, such as longer time spent for IPE activity in a more controlled setting, better coordination of volunteer schedule, participation of all SCOPE volunteers in the IPE activity.

Significance/Conclusions

Predominantly positive feedback from IPE activity participants was not significantly different from last year's data, which indicate that the event goal of integrating multidisciplinary healthcare fields as in the helix curriculum has been generally met. The continued success of service learning events with interdisciplinary opportunities such as Senior Smiles and Wellness implies the importance of collaboration among healthcare practices, which can be explored and presented in numerous directions.

Future directions:

• Interprofessional activity/seminar: continue to improve in a more engaging way
• Attendee data: collect consented demographic data from event attendees and share health screening results among participating programs
• Public relations: promote the event with a larger impact
• Volunteer experience: have volunteers involved in more than one field of service

Location

2nd floor clinic and reception waiting areas

Format

Poster