Partnership builds collaborative space for healthcare students

Oregon State University is partnering with Western University of Health Sciences and Linn-Benton Community College to provide the InterProfessional Education program, a collaborative environment for healthcare students from various disciplines.  Each year-long class holds 100 students, with enrollment handled by the universities that send them.  

Western University's College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific has created a new center in Lebanon, Ore., near the Lebanon Community Hospital called COMP Northwest.  As part of COMP Northwest's IPE program, students from fields like veterinary medicine, pharmacy, nursing and public health work together to solve difficult medical mysteries and practice a rounded approach to health care. The first classes at the center started last August.

"The IPE course is a full year that involves classroom instruction and case studies," said Dennis Muscato, the director of Oregon IPE at COMP Northwest. "We have five cases per year with each case taking two sessions of one and a half hours each. All the IPE curriculum developed from Western University is shared with OSU and LBCC faculty and students."

The most recent study occurred last October, focusing on the case of a 3-year-old girl who was admitted to the hospital for dental concerns, but turned out to have much larger health problems. All cases in the program are fictional, but are based on true cases.  

"The students have an opportunity to see if the patient care was handled the best way it could," Muscato said. "In the end for this particular case, a treatment plan was to be developed to identify all the healthcare professionals needed as a team that provide overall patient care."

Of course, the IPE program isn't the only purpose of the COMP Northwest campus.  

"Educating students to become competent and compassionate physicians who are lifelong learners has been the mission of Western U's COMP since its inception in 1977," said Clinton E. Adams, dean of COMP, in the Northwest program's overview pamphlet. "The establishment of a permanent COMP Northwest campus in the Willamette Valley will further this mission, while simultaneously addressing the healthcare needs of residents throughout the Northwest region."

According to the program's booklet, the Northwest region faces a lack of physicians, as many Northwest doctors from many disciplines are close to retirement.  On top of this, many doctors are drawn to urban areas, leaving rural areas in dire need of qualified medical practitioners.

Out of the 45 states with health schools, Oregon is 43rd in the rate of medical students per 100,000 people. COMP Northwest is the first new medical school built in the state in 60 years.

The program's directors hope to increase the amount of medical students in the area, and have located the COMP Northwest building in Lebanon in order to draw attention to the need for physicians in the rural areas of Oregon.  Four-year enrollment for the campus is expected to host 400 students at the start.  

As for IPE, the next case is scheduled for Nov. 9, and is to take place on the OSU campus.  

"The value and benefits of teamwork and collaboration in our highly connected world are well known," Muscato said. "The professionals of the 21st century will be working more and more in teams."

He added that IPE is a developing discipline, and is already being incorporated in universities throughout the country.

In fact, the movement toward cooperation between health disciplines has been acknowledged at the highest levels of the global health infrastructure.  

According to the World Health Organization's Framework for Action on InterProfessional Education & Collaborative Practice, "InterProfessional education is a necessary step in preparing a ‘collaborative practice-ready' health workforce that is better prepared to respond to local health needs."

Michael Mendes and Amanda Antell, staff reporters

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