East Tennessee State University played a leading role at the recent Tennessee Interprofessional Practice and Education Consortium (TIPEC) annual meeting, highlighting the university's commitment to collaborative, team-based healthcare education.

Held in July at Lipscomb University in Nashville, the conference brought together health professions educators, students and practitioners from across Tennessee to advance interprofessional education and collaborative practice.

TIPEC works to strengthen team-based approaches to healthcare by fostering collaboration among academic institutions, healthcare organizations and community partners.

Representing ETSU's Center for Interprofessional Collaboration, Drs. Alicia Williams, Lindsay Williams and Kathryn Halsted joined colleagues from across the state to facilitate a day-long preconference workshop exploring the use of educational escape rooms as an innovative strategy for interprofessional learning.

ETSU's impact extended throughout the conference, with faculty, students and recent graduates contributing half of all scholarly presentations featured during the meeting.

Presentations highlighted a range of topics, including communication disorders, peer-led interprofessional education, occupational therapy and dental hygiene collaboration, and cultural awareness in international healthcare settings.

The featured presentations included:

• “Beyond Words: Best Practices in Supporting Clients with Communication Disorders: Exploring the Impact of an Interprofessionally Delivered Lunch-and-Learn on Providers’ Knowledge and Practice Behaviors” – Drs. Courtney Andrews and Jessie Gilreath

• “Peer-Led Mentorship in Asynchronous Interprofessional Education: A Dr.P.H. Advanced Learner Facilitation Model” – Rachel Dean, Ifedolapo Aderibigbe, Norbert Ogar and Dr. Alicia Williams

• “Integrating Occupational Therapy's Scope of Practice into Dental Hygiene Education: An Interprofessional Education Approach” – Drs. Hannah Dougherty and Don Lewis

• “Entiendo Pura Vida: An Assessment of Graduate-Level Health Sciences Students’ Cultural Awareness and Roles on an International Interprofessional Team” – Drs. Lindsay Williams, Don Lewis and Courtney Andrews

In addition, Williams, associate director of ETSU's Center for Interprofessional Collaboration, presided over the conference as president of the TIPEC Board of Directors.

As Tennessee's largest academic health sciences center, ETSU prepares future health professionals through an interprofessional model that brings together students and faculty from multiple disciplines to learn with, from and about one another.

The university's Center for Interprofessional Collaboration helps prepare graduates to deliver coordinated, patient-centered care while addressing the evolving health needs of Appalachia and beyond.

Learn more about ETSU's commitment to interprofessional education at etsu.edu/ahsc/ipe/.

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