School of Nursing hosts interprofessional education symposium Jan. 18

The first annual Signe Skott Cooper Symposium, “Building a Foundation for Interprofessional Education,” will be held Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, at the Health Sciences Learning Center on the UW–Madison campus.

The daylong symposium, named to honor continuing education pioneer Signe Skott Cooper, welcomes clinical educators and faculty, curriculum developers for the health professions, and interested practice stakeholders.

“Interprofessional education (IPE) is defined as students of two or more health sciences professions that participate in learning with, from, and about each other,” says Marilyn Haynes-Brokopp, symposium director and professional development director in the UW–Madison School of Nursing. “IPE provides an ability to share skills and knowledge between professions. The anticipated end result is to develop an interprofessional, team-based, collaborative approach that improves patient outcomes and the quality of care.”

The Center for Professional Development and Outreach (PDO) at the nursing school is planning the symposium in collaboration with the schools of Medicine and Public Health, Pharmacy, Social Work, and Veterinary Medicine and the Division of Continuing Studies.

UW-Madison Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Paul M. De Luca Jr. will offer the welcome and introductions; nursing Dean Katharyn May will deliver closing remarks.

The program will focus on building shared meaning and catalyzing efforts for interprofessional education and practice based upon ongoing national developments and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel report “Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice.” Keynote speakers will examine why interprofessional education is necessary and how to build its foundation, including the challenges and barriers related to developing interprofessional curricula.

“The Center for Professional Development and Outreach is very excited about creating this opportunity for educators and practice stakeholders to begin building the foundation for interprofessional health sciences education,” says Haynes-Brokopp.

The symposium will feature speakers Thomas R. Viggiano, MD, M.Ed.; and Madeline Schmitt, Ph.D., RN, FAAN.

Viggiano is associate dean for faculty affairs at Mayo Medical School, professor of medicine, and Barbara Woodward Lips Professor in the College of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. Viggiano has won numerous “teacher of the year” awards. He has played a major role in the design, integration and administration of the medical school’s curriculum, and he developed a curriculum evaluation system based on quality improvement principles.

Schmitt is a nurse-sociologist who, until July 2005, was professor and Independence Foundation Chair in Nursing and Interprofessional Education at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) School of Nursing. Schmitt is a founding member of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative and serves on its inaugural steering committee. She is “actively” retired from her faculty position and has a long-term interest in interprofessional collaborative practice models and interprofessional education.

“Through purposeful learning guided by the interprofessional collaborative practice competencies, health professionals will acquire needed knowledge and skills to work together in environments built on mutual respect and shared values, knowledge of each other’s roles and responsibilities, and effective communication and teamwork processes,” says Viggiano. “The establishment of these competencies for health professionals provides a transformative direction for improving the health care system.”

Registration details and more information can be found at http://pdo.son.wisc.edu/.  The symposium will also be broadcast via videoconferencing to the UW–Madison Western Campus in La Crosse. Registration for the La Crosse site is available at the same location.