Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, lab and radiology technicians, midwives and nutritionists are destined to work together in their careers. During IPE Days they learn how to do this already as students!
The ultimate goal is the wellbeing of the patient. But people’s health is not compartmentalised: we are a marvellous, but often susceptible, complex machine, in which the functioning of a cog is not stand-alone but depends on the whole ‘choreography’ of the body. It goes without saying that whoever takes care of this machine cannot be a single figure, but there is a need for the collaboration of several health professionals, able to work together.
This explains the purpose of IPE Days, InterProfessional Education Days, i.e. days designed, literally, to ‘teach’ medical and health professions students to collaborate with each other. This way, when they become professionals, they will already have the tools to understand which colleague to turn to in order to offer the patient the most complete service possible.
UniCamillus University, which has always been at the forefront of cooperation, could not fail to join such days. And so, after the success of the first edition, the second was held on 8 and 9 May 2024. In addition to a more massive participation of students and lecturers, the novelty this year was to have ‘doubled’ the languages of communication: the first day in Italian, the second in English, reflecting the international spirit of the University.
The event was conceived by Prof. Fabio D’Agostino, Head of the UniCamillus Nursing School, who coordinated the team* in collaboration with Prof. Peter Brooks, international expert in Interprofessional Education and Associate Professor at Grossmont College in San Diego, California. This year, Prof. Brooks greeted the students online from the USA, introducing the event and revealing that he was so proud of the success of these days that he enthusiastically wanted to continue the collaboration with UniCamillus for years to come.
IPE Days were structured in such a way that students from all UniCamillus degree courses were actively involved, with heterogeneous groups led by lecturers and facilitators. The students were faced with various scenarios to solve, whether they were clinical problems, ethical dilemmas, or even simply team building exercises to strengthen team spirit.
Amidst doubts and knowing looks, our teams of future doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, radiotherapy and lab technicians, midwives and nutritionists, actively and practically put themselves to the test, becoming first-hand co-protagonists in a fiction that, once they graduate, will instead be their (and our!) daily reality.
What was the result? Students becoming more emotionally involved in their studies, new friendships born in the wake of a problem to be solved, an even stronger relationship with their lecturers, future professionals more aware of the importance of their role and that of their colleagues. These were our goals as a University of Medical Sciences, and we will continue to pursue them, seeking to perfect them whenever possible. Learning is not just a challenge based on superficial factual knowledge, but a way of testing oneself as a people destined to treat other people. Humans, together.
*team: Dr.ssa Alessandra Carlizza, Dr Alessandro Rotatori, Dr.ssa Aneta Dworakowska, Dr.ssa Anna Berardi, Dr.ssa Antonella Palumbo, Dr.ssa Chiara Pavoni, Dr.ssa Costanza Montagna, Prof Daniele Armenia, Dr Davide Fierro, Prof Fabio D’Agostino, Dr Giovanni Sellitto, Dr.ssa Ilaria Erba, Dr Marco Marchetti, Prof.ssa Maria Rosaria Gualano, Dr.ssa Maria Stella Scorzolini, Dr Matteo Piattoli, Dr.ssa Noemi Giannetta, Prof.ssa Rosa Maria Paragliola.
