Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
University of Toronto
1000487430
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Interprofessional Communication
The last interprofessional education (IPE) learning activity on Palliative Care was the
core IPE that I have enjoyed the most thus far. A large part of that was because of the strong
Going into the session, I was both eager and nervous about participating in the activity. I
was eager because the activity would give me an opportunity to share my previous experience
from working on a Palliative care unit in a way that strongly reflected sharing information during
rounds. I saw this IPE activity as a way to practice what it would be like to report in rounds. I
was also nervous about participating in the activity because as a student, I questioned my own
ability and knowledge about OT in Palliative Care settings to be able to make meaningful
contributions. I was nervous that others may see me as incompetent. However, as the activity
progressed, I quickly realized that this was not the case. The other participants were not looking
to criticize me. Rather, they seemed focused on trying to understand the case and situation from
When we communicated with each other, each group members trusted in each other’s
recommendations. Moreover, as most members of the group had some pre-existing knowledge
about each health professions’ scope of practice, many members were also able to make
suggestions on what another health profession could do with a client. For example, I had made
some recommendations on what I could in my assessment with a client. One of the medical
functional assessment that I may one to consider doing. The medical student offered his
feedback/suggestion in a respectful way. I remained open to his feedback and was grateful for he
recommended an assessment I had not even thought of. There were multiple instances similar to
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Interprofessional Communication
this where one profession would respectfully recommend something to another profession.
Through this means of open communication, our group was able to perform a comprehensive
assessment of the client and address most of the key issues outlined in the solutions manual. I
realized then, how trust, respect and openness towards each health professions’ opinions as well
as knowledge about the scope of practice of other health professions is integral to effective
communication and consequently, promotes more effective and efficient group processing.
I can only think of one instance in which there was a difference in opinion between a
pharmacy student’s medication recommendation and that of the medical student’s. However,
they resolved this difference of opinion in a respectful way, both clearly outlining their reasoning
for why they recommended a change in medication or a change in the dosage of the medication.
It was in this moment I realized the importance of being able to share a common professional
language with a team of various health professionals. There were particular medication-related
words that I did not understand, but both the pharmacist and physician did. I realized that I must
should I wish to remain an active contributor to the team. This is something that I will try and do
In conclusion, this past IPE activity helped me discovery that I must trust myself and my
own competency and knowledge on what it means to be an OT. Simultaneously, I must trust in
others and respect their expertise in their respective scopes of practice. I believe that trust is one
of the key ingredients to efficient team processing. However, one must also strive to learn about
the scopes of practice of other medical disciplines on the healthcare team. This would enable one
to catch key information that the other health professional may have missed, which would