The power of interprofessional collaboration

To all of you beginning this new chapter of your lives as first-year health science students — I would like to welcome you to your new programs, colleges, and schools and congratulate you on staying true to your academic pursuits during what has inarguably been one of society’s most uniquely challenging periods in recent history.

One of the achievements that I’ve witnessed amidst the pandemic has been the ability of diverse groups of people, communities, and organizations to collectively adapt to new ways of working together.

As we all adjust to evolving methods of teaching and learning, and safely interacting with others, I can’t help but be reminded of how much more successful people are when collaborating to accomplish a shared goal.

Effective teamwork is vital when addressing complex issues — whether you’re a first-year health science student or an associate provost. Like all of you beginning your health science studies, I too have taken on a new challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic.

My primary role at the University of Saskatchewan involves overseeing the Health Sciences unit and working closely with community partners and university faculty and staff — including the deans in each of your colleges and schools — to further our mission of improving health outcomes for people in the province, across the country, and throughout the rest of the world.

By working with professionals from a variety of distinct backgrounds, interprofessional collaboration is the foundation from which we aspire to support all of you — and the university — in becoming what the world needs.

Collectively, we can achieve so much more than what is possible working independently. And now, more than ever, is the time for health care professionals in particular to leverage the potential of collaborative teamwork and interprofessional learning.

In 2010, the World Health Organization published the “Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice.” In it, the WHO rightly acknowledges that a “strong, flexible and collaborative health workforce is one of the best ways to confront highly complex health challenges.”

In 2015, one of our own health science students from the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, Brennan Bosch, published an article comparing interprofessional collaboration in health care to lessons learned from competitive sports. While outlining essential team dynamics such as trust, confidence, and the ability to overcome personal differences, Bosch explored the similarities between highly successful teams and those teams which were unable to perform efficiently or effectively.

What these two publications have in common is an unshakable belief in the power of interprofessional collaboration to help improve health outcomes.

And isn’t that why we’re all here?

When health workers have developed the skills to successfully engage others who can positively impact health-related goals, interprofessionalism becomes an exceptionally powerful tool for all involved.

In the World Health Organization article I cited, mention is made regarding how the delivery of interprofessional education frequently takes a back seat to other pressing crises presented by epidemics, natural disasters, and other health issues across the world.

This can’t be allowed to happen. Whether we’re dealing with coronavirus issues or any number of other challenges that existed prior to this pandemic, COVID-19 has brought the vital need for educated and experienced health science professionals to the forefront.

We have an obligation to adopt more effective ways to harness, integrate, and apply our diverse knowledge and competencies—especially during a time when resources may be spread thin or inaccessible.

To employ a cliché, we need to work smarter, not harder—although, as you’ll soon discover, sometimes we need to do both in the health sciences!

As such, a united, team-based approach to health care is one of the best ways to positively contribute to the world’s health challenges. And, as it happens, the University of Saskatchewan is uniquely positioned to support interprofessional education and practice:

• The Health Sciences Building has been physically designed to support opportunities reflecting how pharmacists, nurses, doctors, dentists, and other professionals interact together in the real world.
• The composition of our research clusters is based on subject matter rather than by college or department in order to support a number of multidisciplinary and interprofessional research projects.
• The Health Sciences’ Clinical Learning Resource Centre — or CLRC — is an interprofessional education training centre serving students from several health science units and logging about 100,000 contact hours of teaching per year.

It is this shared infrastructure that, despite recent physical distancing precautions, allows health science students to collaborate while developing a respect for the expertise of other disciplines.

From academic programming and interprofessional education to collaborative research teams and the development of tools such as IPECT — our faculty, staff, community partners, and colleagues are themselves collaborating interprofessionally to support you in your work and collective experiences.

I look forward to seeing how all of you contribute to our culture of sharing. I know that it will have a tremendous impact on your future careers and the wellbeing of those impacted or influenced by your work.

In closing, I wish all of you the best in your studies, during your time with us at USask, and in your future careers.

Thank you very much.