STUDENTS OPENING DOORS TO INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION By Jessica Wong and Luciano Di Loreto Since last year, when Canadian Chiropractor readers were first introduced to the CMCC student club “Building Bridges,” the club, in its second year of existence, has established a number of interprofessional events that have been monumental to the advancement of collaboration between chiropractic and other health-care professions. Building Bridges is a student-run group that aims to enhance interprofessional education (IPE) and relations among all health- care professions with the emphasis on academic initiatives that link the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) with other health-care programs in the Toronto area. This past year the club organized many firsts: • CMCC held its pilot “student exchange” program with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. Throughout the month of April, this program provided 14 students – seven from each profession – the opportunity to spend a day at the other school. The program utilized a buddy system that part- nered a chiropractic student with a medical student through- out the program. This successful initiative has sparked interest in opening this opportunity to a larger group of students ev- ery year, as well as the possibility of including more profes- sions in the exchange. – gathered at CCNM to listen to a number of guest speakers, enjoy lunch, visit workshops and discuss interesting patient cases together in problem-based learning sessions. This event united students of naturopathy, chiropractic and medicine to learn about current and future opportunities for collaboration, in both the clinical and research capacity. Once again, this IPE seminar received ample positive feedback and will now be established as an annual event. • At the residency level, there are a number of events that in- crease IPE presence among the chiropractic residents and fac- ulty of the school. Most notably, residents Dr. Alex Lee and Dr. Janey Jim delivered talks to health science students at the University of Toronto through various lunch health talks, and a display booth at Pain Week also at the University of Toronto. Dr. Kopansky-Giles, associate professor at CMCC, also deliv- ered a talk to University of Toronto second-year physiotherapy students. These talks served as an introduction to chiropractic for other health science students. • At the student level, strides have been made to affiliate the student club with other interprofessional organizations. Lu- ciano Di Loreto, president of Building Bridges, and Jessica Wong, the club’s communications director, have been elected as executives to the Inter Pro- fessional Health Science Asso- ciation (IPHSA), the IPE student group based at the University of Toronto. This group further facilitates collaboration and paves the way for a very prom- ising future. CMCC students have assisted in the restructur- ing of IPHSA’s existing constitu- tion in order to create a new IPE student group, which includes chiropractic and 10 other pro- fessional health science pro- grams. This new IPE group, to be implemented by September 2009, will advocate for the in- clusion of equal representation across professions in future IPE events. Beginning in September 2009, an even stronger version of the student club will emerge, as Building Bridges, along with the Interprofessional Commit- tee of the Student Canadian Chiropractic Association, will launch a new cohesive consti- tution to incorporate faculty From left to right: Donato Policastro (vice-president), Dr. Deborah Kopansky-Giles, Luciano Di Loreto (president), Stephanie Parker (physiotherapy student) and Jessica Wong (communications director). • On April 12, 2008, the club also helped organize the inau- gural interprofessional seminar between CMCC, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) and Univer- sity of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine. The event involved over 60 students – approximately 20 students per profession 32 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | SEPTEMBER 2008 mentors. Faculty mentors are CMCC faculty members, with a strong interest in advancing IPE, who will formally sit on the club’s board of directors. Currently, faculty mentors include Dean Lenore Edmunds, Drs. Deborah Kopansky-Giles and Igor Steiman. Acting as advising members for the club, these faculty supporters will connect the IPE work of the students with those at the faculty level, ensuring continuity and cohesiveness in the collective vision of the two parties. Together, they will advance IPE to the next level for chiropractic, and ensuring chiropractic’s inclusion in IPE events and programs across Canada. www.canadianchiropractor.ca news
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