IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr's Inci and Giray Kolcu, Suleyman Demirel University (Turkey)

We, Assist. Prof. Dr. M. İnci Başer Kolcu and Assist. Prof. Dr. Giray Kolcu, are from Turkey,Isparta. We are in the Department of Medical Education and Informatics at Suleyman Demirel University, School of Medicine. Designing curriculum is one of our main roles. By the way, we are in an IPE leadership role at our university. In addition to our doctorate studies in medical education, Dr. Inci is a DDS, specialist in endodontics and Dr. Giray is a MD, specialist in family medicine. The studies about “interprofessional education” has just started in Turkey at the beginning of 2000s. There are a few local examples of practice but unfortunately has not widely applied yet. So our main goal is planning an educational curriculum based on IPE in Suleyman Demirel University and with this purpose Dr. Inci planned a doctoral thesis about the effectiveness of a communication skill program based on IPE. We met with IPR.Global via the doctoral thesis studies of Dr. Inci. 

IPR.Global welcomed us very friendly and we learned a lot from this group. With the Covid-19 pandemic, we joined the IPR.Global events more common. The meetings gave us a different vision and opens our minds. We want to underline that IPR.Global is an environment where the word "interprofessional" is internalized. It is a very fruitful and joyful environment that provides a very rich learning opportunity. As we love learning, we tried to contribute to this beautiful environment as much as we could. We had the opportunity to work with very valuable names in the field and benefit from their experiences. We had some roles in some global researches and proud of ourselves. Currently, we focused on Turkish adaptation studies of scales such as IPAS (Interprofessional Attitudes Scale) and EPIS (Extended Professional Identity Scale). And in our school of medicine, we put the "interprofessional education" approach in the faculties' educational goals and objectives for the first time in undergraduate medical education program. We are working on designing educational programs based on IPE for school of medicine and school of health sciences both. 

We believe that most problems that are thought to be specific to people and institutions or countries in the health and social fields are common problems that everyone faces in the world. Working together to make things better is meaningful, valuable and facilitating. And above all, accompanying and witnessing the emergence of a global response is invaluable. IPR.Global is important because they enable these responses from a scientific point of view and allow co-production. You can contact us in all the fields of Interprofessional education/communication/collaboration/research Contact us: mukadderkolcu@sdu.edu.tr and giraykolcu@sdu.edu.tr.

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IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Angela Cecil, Spalding University (USA)

Hello, I am Dr. Angela Cecil, a life-long native of Kentucky and an experienced academician in occupational therapy, a new researcher with a passion for interprofessional education and collaboration, and a seasoned occupational therapist in adult rehabilitation but with a fast-and-furiously growing interest in community- and population-based practice. 

I have participated in trials-alliance IPE workshops for approximately 5 years with students and faculty from occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology in Louisville, KY. My contributions to this team facilitated an interest in IPE, which became the topic of my dissertation: Applying an ecological perspective to interprofessional education: Attitude changes in students of the tri-alliance

Some of my greatest achievements include: earning my PhD in spring 2021, actively participating in interprofessional organizations, establishing new and life-long relationships with IPE/C influencers, thinkers, and leaders from whom I will learn and will pass on to the generation after me

IPR. Global provides the opportunity to learn from and work with other health and social care professionals for establishing consistency of thought and practice to make marked, measurable, and sustainable differences in the health of humans, animals, and the planet

Just say no to pineapple on pizza! Say yes to extra pizza sauce and cheese!

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IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Amanda Garey, Texas Children's Hospital (USA)

My name is Amanda Garey PhD(c), MSN, RN, NPD-BC; I am from League City, Texas. I work in the Texas Medical Center at Texas Children's Hospital as an Accredited Provider Program Director. I have worked in various bedside roles and as a nurse educator in obstetrics and pediatrics. My family drives my passion for my profession and service to my community. 

It is our responsibility as health care professionals to lead with a collaborative mindset to shift the paradigm to team-based healthcare. As a team, health care professionals have the power influence positive outcomes related to staff retention, satisfaction, and patient outcomes. Teams work together to win; it takes each unique position to gain control of the game!

I first got involved in interprofessional education and research when I joined the Houston Area Perinatal Program executive community in 2012 after working in the obstetric field since 2004 as labor and delivery nurse. I began teaching fetal monitoring for the consortium throughout the community while leveraging consortium courses for our perinatal nursing staff. I became passionate about interprofessional education early in my career as an obstetric nurse. I find it exceptionally important for nurses and interprofessional licensed health care providers to learn together in high reliability environments to improve patient outcomes. In particular, nurses and physicians learning the same critical elements as it relates specialized clinical practice during entry to the clinical environment. For example, fetal monitoring interpretation and obtaining specialty certifications.

I am most proud of my current dissertation research around interprofessional collaboration in the context of complex clinical-based health systems. The study's primary objectives are to analyze the current state of team collaboration within an urban-based pediatric clinical practice setting and determine the impact of an educational intervention on the level of team collaboration in three subscales of collaborative practice in an urban pediatric hospital. I also serve as president for the Association for Nursing Professional Development – Houston Affiliate and as a volunteer appraiser with the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Primary Accreditation and Joint Accreditation Program.

I am excited to join IPR.Global and look forward to the experiences that lie ahead with networking and collaborative opportunities! IPR.Global represents a growing population of content experts shifting the paradigm to improve collaborative work across the globe and transform staff satisfaction and patient outcomes.  

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IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Anne Griffin, University of Limerick (Ireland)

Hello to the IPR.Global community!  My name is Dr. Anne Griffin and I live in county Clare on the west coast of Ireland quite close to the famous Cliffs of Moher.  I am a registered dietitian and lecturer on a Master’s programme of Human Nutrition & Dietetics at the University of Limerick. I have a  Honours Diploma in Dietetics from Dublin Institute of Technology, a BSc In Human Nutrition from Trinity College, Dublin, a PhD from Dublin Institute of Technology and I am graduating this Autumn with a MA in Teaching, Learning and Assessment from the University of Limerick.  I am an active member of the Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute and currently am the interim Chair of the senior management team.  I am a member of the Education and Lifelong Learning committee of the European Federation of Dietetic Associations. My current research interests include exploring integrated nutrition care to address malnutrition among older adults,  exploration of the influencing factors on participant attendance at structured education programmes for Type 2 Diabetes, development of nutrition competencies among healthcare professionals, faculty training needs to support interprofessional education, Mediterranean diet and rheumatoid arthritis (MEDRA), PBL delivery and student experience.

I first became involved in interprofessional education and research when I joined the academic staff at the School of Allied Health, UL in 2018.  Prior to this I worked in the area of health promotion and wellbeing where interprofessional practice was core to enabling individuals and communities to increase control over their own health.  I currently co-ordinate the interprofessional education modules that are a key feature of the curricula delivered across five pre-registration programmes in the school.  Towards the award of my recent MA, I completed a study exploring faculty training needs to support and enhance IPE.  As a team of academic, practice education, administration and students we were awarded the prestigious Disciplinary Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment (DELTA) Award in May 2021 in recognition of our excellence in IPE teaching and learning enhancement initiatives. https://www.teachingandlearning.ie/2021/05/25/teams-from-mtu-ucc-and-ul-receive-delta-awards/

 I am delighted to join the IPR.Global community and look forward to opportunities to share experiences, network and develop further knowledge and skills in IPE with international colleagues.

 You can find out more about me at https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1581-2998 or follow me on Twitter @Griffin_AnneC

Interprofessional Research.Global Scholar Spotlight is a regular feature that highlights member research in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.  

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IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Juliet Savanhu, National Health Service (UK)

Hello, my name is Juliet Savanhu and I am an enthusiastic nursing and clinical research practitioner who believes that we cannot entirely work as individuals as educators or researchers. Still, we need to collaborate with other professionals with different expertise.

I am a Zimbabwean born, United Kingdom-based Registered General Nurse currently working within the National Health Service (NHS). I have a wide range of clinical research experience as a Research Nurse. I am also an accredited UK Higher Education Fellow with nurse teaching experience in higher education institutions and clinical settings.  I recently joined IPR Global through an invitation, and I am a new member who is looking forward to being part of the team.

I am most proud of my work to support and mentor students from nursing, medical, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy specialities. Whether it is during their clinical placements, educational practice, or helping them design their dissertation projects, I have enjoyed being part of their journey to achieve their goals. 

What does IPR.Global mean to me?

IPR Global is essential to me as I will be collaborating with other global educators and researchers to improve IPR at global level. By joining IPR Global, I will have the opportunity to work with other educators from different professional backgrounds.

Should pineapple be on pizza?

Yes, definitely! It’s the only way to eat pizza.

Interprofessional Research.Global Scholar Spotlight is a regular feature that highlights member research in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.  

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IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Esther DeGroot, University Medical Center UMC-Utrecht (Netherlands)

Hello!  My name is Dr. Esther de Groot and I work at the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, where most of my work is in lifelong (informal) learning of professionals from different disciplines. I am enthusiastic about, committed to, and knowledgeable in medical education (research). My expertise is in specific research methods (realist reviews, video-stimulated recall interviews, and social network methods) and theories (boundary crossing theories, activity theory, social capital theory) which could be valuable for IPR.Global. My role is in supervising, initiating, and performing research. Finally, I keep a clear eye on opportunities for co-writing proposals to obtain research grants. 

While working in veterinary medicine, I became interested in OneHealth, which asks for education in interprofessional collaboration. Then I started working at the Medical School, doing research, and one of the PhD students for whom I became a supervisor was someone who, as a general practitioner, had been interested her whole life in intraprofessional collaboration (between professionals in primary and secondary care). Her enthusiasm for the topic was contagious. Also, the work of Sanne Akkerman on boundary-crossing inspires me as it emphasises the learning opportunities that differences between people and between contexts provide; interprofessional – and intraprofessional collaboration hence became one of my core research topics.

As a researcher, I am particularly proud on this publication:

Meijer, L. J., de Groot, E., Honing-de Lange, G., Kearney, G., Schellevis, F. G., & Damoiseaux, R. A. M. J. (2021). Transcending boundaries for collaborative patient care. Medical Teacher, 43(1), 27-31. doi:10.1080/0142159X.2020.1796947 

I just joined the network of IPR.Global because I expect that it will provide an opportunity to join forces in the field of research into learning for interprofessional and intraprofessional collaboration. International comparisons between the ways that facilitating learning of such collaboration has been organized will be valuable to develop the learning health system which is, as we have seen in the pandemic, more and more global. As a result of the partnership within IPR.Global, we might be able to acquire grants for collaborative research projects. Finally, I could represent IPR-Global toward the large group of medical education researchers in the Netherlands.

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IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Gayle Halas, University of Manitoba (Canada)

Hello! My name is Gayle Halas, RDH, MA, PhD. and I am the the inaugural Rady Chair in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada).  This locally supported research chair focuses on interprofessional collaborative practice research and scholarship; provides leadership in training, educating, and mentoring future leaders in interprofessional collaborative practice; and builds upon collaborative relationships between educational and practice systems.  

My current research is focused on team-based primary health care, and the communication and interactions that enable collaborative practice, particularly for addressing complex needs and care. Focusing on complex needs has resulted in collaborations with teams examining the older adult care continuum, team approaches for addressing substance use disorders, and transitions in care that are informed by stakeholder experiences and perspectives. My current work is exploring virtual visits in primary care, practice-level factors influencing interprofessional teamwork, and patient/public/caregiver experiences of team-based care. I have also been working with a team developing an interprofessional student-infused community health centre, targeting community needs for chronic disease and experiential learning for interprofessional practice building. 

I am also a provincial research lead in a pan-Canadian primary and integrated health care research network, launched in 2014 by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. This alliance of researchers, policy makers, clinicians and patient/public members aims to create evidence that can inform learning and practice systems as well be readily implemented for improved health services.  

In 2006, after a clinical career as a dental hygienist, I moved into a research role with the department of family medicine and, with some great mentorship, later appointed director of  research in the department.  I developed (perhaps even inherited!) an appreciation for the expertise of a team in providing patient-centred comprehensive primary care. In many ways, interprofessional practice was an assumption within the research that was conducted and the ways in which care was provided. 

What achievement are you most proud of in the area of interprofessional education and research?

Diverse partnerships. I am currently working with a breadth of key stakeholders, including members of the community with various lived experiences of homelessness, caregiving through to managing one’s own health and basic communication with health care providers.  I value the partnerships I have formed with policy-makers and realize the importance of situating research within the systems of care. I am fortunate to have dedicated researchers with whom I collaborate, from within my own academic institution as well as from other Canadian universities and extending to one international team.

What does IPR.Global mean to you? 

The experts in Interprofessional Education and Practice Research – and a focused community of practice!  The structures and processes supporting interprofessional collaboration are ripe for investigation and there is great potential to collaborate, compare and contrast what is working and why. 

And finally, should pineapple be on pizza? Yes or No?

Absolutely and especially if accompanied by Canadian bacon! 

Interprofessional Research.Global Scholar Spotlight is a regular feature that highlights member research in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.  

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