SWAG��Ƶ

SWAG��Ƶ faculty, alumni and professional staff were well represented at Collaborating Across Borders (CAB), an international interprofessional conference that took place recently at Indiana University.

The SWAG��Ƶ representatives presented on topics that included innovations in undergraduate collaborative education, interprofessional substance use prevention training, international partnerships and simulation debriefing. All of the topics reflected CAB conference themes.

Dawne-Marie Dunbar, M.S.N./Ed., RN, CNE, CHSE, director of SWAG��Ƶ’s Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center, and colleagues shared their versatile interprofessional debriefing instrument, the result of a four-year international collaboration.

Dunbar; Karen Pardue, Ph.D., M.S., RN, CNE, ANEF, dean of the Westbrook College of Health Professions (WCHP); Bernice Mills, M.S., RDH, WCHP assistant dean for Clinical and Student Affairs; Haley Lawlor, B.S., HWOS ’19; and Collyn Baeder, M.P.H., assistant clinical professor and internship coordinator for Health, Wellness, and Occupational Studies, presented “First Impressions are Lasting Impressions: A Triple Nexus of Teaching, Modeling & Experiencing Interprofessional Collaboration for Undergraduate First-Year Students,” a unique undergraduate collaborative curriculum for incoming freshmen.

Pardue and Mills also offered an oral presentation and poster describing the process and outcomes of a two-year research collaborative involving four institutions across the United States.  The collaborative explored best practices for teaching introductory Interprofessional Education (IPE) and evaluating instrumentation and student learning outcomes.  

Kris Winston, Ph.D., OTR/L, program director for the Occupational Therapy Department, and Sally McCormack Tutt, PT, D.P.T., M.P.H., Ed.D., associate dean for Academic Affairs, discussed SWAG��Ƶ’s global collaboration on the Morocco campus in their presentation, “Moroccan Immersion: A Crossroad of Interprofessional Collaboration and Global Health.” Tutt also presented her doctoral research findings that looked at the translation of interprofessional campus-based learning into collaborative practice.

Kris Hall, M.F.A., Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral for Treatment (SBIRT) program manager, hosted a one-hour roundtable, “Substance Use Prevention - 8 Professions at a Time,” with educators and practitioners in which they discussed cross-professional training in substance abuse prevention.

All the presenters were able to share their experiences at SWAG��Ƶ, where collaborative learning is a common practice.