Interprofessional Health Care Education

:

Links to health literacy from the All Together Better Health Conference

VI

Zsuza Tomsen (Susan Toth-Cohen) and Aliesel ResidentJefferson School of Health Professions, Dept. of

Occupational Therapy, Thomas Jefferson UniversityPhiladelphia, PA, USA 19107

All Together Better Health VI

Kobe, JapanOctober 5-82012

Health LiteracyA balance between the

literacy & verbal skills of a person compared to the

demands made by the health

materials, the communication

skills of those in the health field, & the

complicated nature of the healthcare & public

health systems. (Harvard Sch. Public

Health, 2011)

Interprofessional EducationWhen students from 2 or more professions learn about, from & with each other to enable effective collaboration & improve health outcomes (WHO, 2010).

Patient Level

Provider Level

Systems Level

… about people…

…about communication and impact

Both are

… about Health Outcomes

How Can IPE…

Help us empower patients/clients/consumers to build their health literacy

Create more effective, efficient healthcare services?

Produce health and human service professionals who provide patient/client/consumer centered care?

Collaborate to ensure effective education of patients/clients/consumers

Decrease medical errors that frequently occur from lack of communication/lack of coordination

Learn to see each other as resources and as professionals who have different contributions to make

That together, IP teams can accomplish more than any 1 discipline alone

Through IPE, students can learn to:

Example: Interprofessional Collaboration on the Run

Well developed series on interprofessional education covering comprehensive aspectsInterprofessional Collaborative Learning series

Covers key issues including role clarification, collaborative leadership and shared decision-making, team functioning, and conflict management.

Videos on key topics bring home important issues, including health literacy levels and how the provider and system can make a difference.

University of British Columbia

Example: Interprofessional Collaboration on a Global Level

Rwanda Health and Healing Project (est. 2005) sends interprofessional teams to Rwanda to meet the health needs of refugees.

Health literacy goals include training Rwandan professionals in health & hygiene and educating people about nutrition & HIV/AIDS.

One example of how interprofessional collaboration & health literacy can be used together to address global health inequalities.

Thomas Jefferson University

Discussion

Possible topics (we’ll leave these up to you, here are some suggestions!)

What are your experiences of how health professionals can foster health literacy by communicating with one another?

How does patient-centered care improve the quality of health and human services?