Interprofessional Education
About IPE
Interprofessional Education at Mercy University is defined as: When students from two or more professions, patients, families, and communities learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration, develop partnerships and work as a team to improve health outcomes. In Mercy University, students in the health professions in the School of Health and Natural Science are expected to demonstrate a commitment to engage in inter-professional and/or community service, including regional and/or global service, using knowledge and skills gained during their academic studies to foster diversity, interdisciplinary initiatives, and/or eliminate health disparities.
Mission and Vision of IPE at Mercy University
The School of Health and Natural Sciences is committed to providing opportunities for students in engage in IPE while enrolled at Mercy University. The Health Professions Clinical Simulation and Learning Labs are utilized to bring students together from various health professions for interdisciplinary hands-on learning experiences in settings that reflect in-patient, clinic, and home settings. The students can work as a team while practicing patient assessment, critical thinking, communication, and interventions based on specific patient scenarios. Other interprofessional educational opportunities include common book reads that culminate in a workshop with panel experts, interprofessional medical missions, a poverty simulation experience, as well as a variety of learning activities between two or more programs.
IPE Events
- Case History Interview (fall semester)—An average of 40 students each fall from six SHNS programs work in IP teams to elicit case history information from a patient and/or family member with a disability or health condition in an interview format; the interviewee is a community stakeholder, offering them the opportunity to contribute to the education of the students of all health disciplines.
- Simulated Patient consultation and discharge sequence (spring semester)—this activity is designed as an intake + consultation + discharge scenario using actors to portray a patient and a family member and a team of student participants from 4-6 programs to work collaboratively to obtain information, consult on treatment, and deliver discharge planning.
- Simulated Patient home health assessment (spring semester)—this activity focuses on completing a home health assessment using actors to portray a patient and family member and student participants from 4-6 programs who, working together, collaborate to assess the patient’s functional status and home safety and develop a list of recommendations.
- Telehealth Simulated Patient discharge planning (spring semester)—with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during the spring 2020 semester, Mercy University transitioned all its classes to online; to carry out the Simulated Patient event, we modified the activity and pared it down to just the discharge portion. A team of students from three professions carried out a discharge summary through zoom.
- Book discussion (fall and spring semester)—the IPE committee selects a book that addresses a timely health/social issue having relevance across several SHNS programs (e.g., the opioid crisis, transgender issues, traumatic brain injury) is assigned reading to students in multiple programs; the activity culminates in a panel discussion and Q & A with students and faculty representing various disciplines who address the role of each profession in delivery of services to individuals with the given health/social issue.
- IPE Book Read Event History
- Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) (http://www.povertysimulation.net/about) (fall or spring semester) — An interactive immersion experience designed to sensitize students, faculty, and community participants to the realities of poverty, based on real Community Action clients and their lives, wherein interprofessionally grouped “families” are presented with domestic and work situations to deal with; the summary “debrief” addresses the need for IP team collaboration.
- Tracheostomy Training: Clinical Lab Module (fall and spring semesters) - this is an interdisciplinary training module that includes students from Communication Disorders & Nursing to train students from both disciplines in tracheostomy care & speaking valves.
- Improving the Health of Seniors through Interprofessional Health Management- A faculty in the Physical Therapy Program received an Interprofessional Innovation Grant Program from the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) to develop an interprofessional project to support the health needs of older adults in the community along with preparing our DPT students for best practices in coordinated health management. DPT students and Family Nurse Practitioner students will collaborate on this project. During the spring of 2023 physical therapy students completed community health screens on seniors and this grant is piloting a IPE team of PT and Nurse Practitioner students performing a more in depth health screen with seniors who are part of the NNORC in Yonkers.
- Health and Wellness Fair (fall or spring semester)—the University Wellness committee, with strong participation by SHNS programs, hosts this community event where students and faculty from all health disciplines create and implement health education, health promotion, and health screenings for the University and surrounding community
Interprofessional Medical Missions
In Mercy College’s first medical mission trip since 2019 — which was put on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic — students and faculty from the School of Health and Natural Sciences traveled to the Dominican Republic in March on a five-day humanitarian medical mission. The team — which included a total of 16 students from the Physician Assistant Studies, Physical Therapy, Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy Assistant Studies programs — provided free medical care to hundreds of people in underserved areas in and around Santo Domingo, the capitol.
In March, a group of Mercy students and faculty from the School of Health and Natural Sciences traveled to Antigua, an island in the West Indies, as part of their fieldwork in occupational therapy, physical therapy and communication disorders. Applying skills and knowledge learned in the classroom to their hands-on clinical work with patients with severe cognitive and physical disabilities, participants had a life-changing experience, one they will never forget.
Interprofessional Education in the Simulation Labs
Students from various health professions work with a simulated patient (a student actor from the college) in one of the simulation labs. These interprofessional experiences help students learn about other professions’ roles and responsibilities, values and ethics, and teamwork. These simulated experiences prepare them for their real-world clinical experiences.
Mercy IPE Activities Publications, Presentations, and Grants
April 17, 2021 Irina Ellison, Kathleen Kenney-Riley, Nannette Hyland. “Love lives here: Supporting transgender patients through an IPE cross-curricular common read and virtual panel discussion.”, Oral Presentation at Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Education (JCIPE),Virtual Conference.
April 15, 2021 Nannette Hyland, Kathleen Kenney-Riley, Irina Ellison, Sonia Moorehead, Gloria Schlisselberg. “Interprofessional Education (IPE) Curricular Success during COVID 19.” Poster Presentation at Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Education (JCIPE) conference, Virtual Conference.
October 27, 2018 “Poverty Simulation: An Interactive IPE Program.” Kathy Kenney-Riley, Nannette Hyland, Sonia Moorehead. Poster Presentation at Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Education (JCIPE) conference, Interprofessional Care for the 21st Century: Redefining Education and Practice. Philadelphia, PA.
October 27, 2018 “I’ll Carry the Fork: An Interactive Book IPE Talk.” Kathy Kenney-Riley, Nannette Hyland, Sonia Moorehead and Irina Ellison. Poster Presentation at Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Education (JCIPE) conference, Interprofessional Care for the 21st Century: Redefining Education and Practice. Philadelphia, PA.
October 2018 “Developing an Interprofessional Educational Program: A Multipronged Approach”. Kathy Kenney-Riley, Nannette Hyland, Sonia Moorehead. Platform presentation at ASAHP Annual Conference, “Allied Health Education on the Front Lines - Expanding Access to Better Health and Health Care” in Saint Petersburg, Florida.
February 2018 "Student-centered interprofessional education: Reaching beyond traditional academic disciplines" Nannette Hyland, Astrid Mel. Poster presentation at APTA Combined Sections Meeting New Orleans, LA
October 1 – 4, 2017 “An Interdisciplinary Education Experience: Including Clients and Caregivers in IPE.” Kathy Kenney-Riley, Nannette Hyland. Oral presentation at Collaborating Across Borders VI Conference in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
March 31, 2017 “Redesigning Instruction for Interprofessional Education” Sonia Moorehead, Kathy Kenney-Riley, Nannette Hyland, Jeanine Stancanelli. Poster presentation at AOTA Annual Conference & Centennial Celebration, Philadelphia, PA.
October 28-29, 2016 “Redesigning Instruction for Interprofessional Education”. Kathy Kenney-Riley, Nannette Hyland, Sonia Moorehead. Platform presentation at Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Education (JCIPE) conference, Interprofessional Care for the 21st Century: Redefining Education and Practice. Philadelphia, PA.
2023-2024 Dr. Nannette Hyland, PhD, PT, received an Interprofessional Innovation Grant from the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) to expand our interprofessional education into the community. During the spring of 2023 physical therapy students completed community health screens on seniors and this grant is piloting a IPE team of PT and Nurse Practitioner students performing a more in depth health screen with seniors who are part of the NNORC in Yonkers.
Photos from IPE Events
Simulated 'family' in poverty simulation.
Student and 'child' participating in Poverty Simulation
Interprofessional Medical Mission to the Dominican Republic Spring 2023
Students observing an IPE activity with a standardized patient
Committee Members
Contact Us
Email IPE:
shns@mercy.edu
IPE Co-Chairs:
Nannette Hyland, PhD, PT
Kathleen Kenney-Riley, EdD, RN