Written By Amber D. Dodd
How are the ethics of healthcare, social work, communications, and artists interconnected? According to Howard University’s Interprofessional Education (IPE) Committee, every way possible.
Ahead of their ninth health workshop, and in celebration of Women’s History Month, the 13 all-women members of the Interprofessional Education Committee are shedding light on their goals as an organization with a mission of preparing the next generation of providers across disciplines.
“Every time I come to this platform, I am energized, I am inspired,” said Donna Grant-Mills, Ph.D., a founding member of the IPE Committee. “When I don’t know which way to go, this committee shows me the way. It’s tremendous work – a lot of focus but a lot of love.”
The Education and Ethics of Tomorrow’s Black Professionals
In what she calls “interdisciplinary engagement,” Grant-Mills said the IPE Committee’s shared identity creates “outcomes of care” that connect, share, and identify providers in different professions.
The IPE’s University-wide mission is to build “culturally-responsive, collaborative, and practice-ready professionals across the spectrum of health and behavioral science disciplines.” The Office of the Provost established the Interprofessional Education (IPE) Committee in 2015.
Tamara Owens, Ph.D., serves as the IPE Committee Chair. Owens is an expert in medical, interprofessional development herself as the founding director of The Howard University Simulation and Clinical Skills Center.
Housed under the Office of the Provost too, faculty, students and researchers can test a plethora of medical practices on simulated mock patients in clinical scenarios. The simulation serves 10 of the University’s 14 schools and colleges. For Owens, the center is a complementary entity to the interprofessional committee as patient care becomes a “team sport and effort” there.
“The space itself is designed for us to engage as teams, it’s designed for us to think about whenever we have a new faculty member, integrating them into what’s going on with another discipline,” Owens explains. “We’re always thinking about how we can make sure that students benefit and can be exposed to other disciplines.”
The need for implementing interprofessionally manifests in different ways throughout colleges and schools. For social work, there is a need for a multidimensional approach to assess a family or child’s wellbeing through cultural and social lens.
Janice Davis, Ph.D., spoke to the interprofessional committee as an opportunity to increase the School of Social Work student’s awareness to conduct a full, equitable assessment of a child’s wellbeing.
“We’re trying to teach students to function in that mindset, because that will save the Black community,” said Davis, the School of Social Work’s director of clinical education.
“We are all aware of the limitations of being a Black professional in different arenas, and we know that there are not enough of us to go around to actually be involved.”
As lockdown erased traditional lines of communication and roles, the COVID crisis highlighted the need for alternative ways to embrace a multi-role atmosphere.
IPE Committee member Pamela Carter-Nolan said impromptu COVID practices raised the need for “synergy” within relatable professions, a core value to the interprofessional committee. Carter-Nolan is the director of graduate studies for the University’s Master of Public Health program.
“COVID [research] was originally clinical based with the medical, nursing, and pharmacy, but we had to realize to get the people, you needed the mental health community to come to the table and reach the individuals,” she said. “You needed the scientists to come to the table and explain the details in layman’s terms so people could understand what was going on. Public health, in my opinion, was that bridge.”