RUNNING HEAD: INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION

IPE Reflection Paper 3: Interprofessional Collaboration

Thursday March 26, 2020

University of Toronto

1000487430
2
Interprofessional Collaboration
A few weeks ago, students from the various health professional programs at the

University of Toronto met to collaboratively learn about Pain. It was a unique experience since

many of these programs learn explicitly about their respective health professions for the majority

of their time in school. As such, we were all mystified by each other’s professions and learning

opportunities such as these enable students to experience for themselves what it would be like to

participate in an interprofessional team after graduation.

I was fortunate to have an excellent team with strong collaborative and communication

skills. This was exemplified during an assignment where we had to create an interprofessional

care plan for a hypothetical case. In reviewing the case, team members consistently asked student

from other professions clarification questions to contribute to a collaborative understanding of

our client. When determining a treatment/intervention plan, students inquired students from other

professions how they can collaborate. For example, in determining a plan to assist the client in

engaging in her daily activities of self-care, I inquired the PT student in our group, whether he

would be interested in having a joint assessment as well as a joint home safety assessment, as

well as what we would look out for. I thought of my previous placements and how OTs and PTs

would often pair up to collaborate, each offering their unique perspectives on a client and coming

to a more comprehensive plan on next steps. Upon reflection, I realized that these strong team

process skills were facilitated by mutual respect, an openness to learn from each other, as well as

a willingness to collaborate. Our team would not have been able to function as effectively or

efficiently if we were lacking any one of these skills and attitudes. Indeed, there were few if any

conflicts experienced by my team.

One huge learning for me during this activity is that I need to be able to speak up more.

While I did make contributions from an OT perspective and provided support in identifying ways
3
Interprofessional Collaboration
through which the team can communicate online if need be, I often found myself hesitating to

share my opinion. I was fearful to share my thoughts because I was afraid of sounding

incompetent. We had other OTs on our team who offered their opinions more freely and I

realized that in practise, I will not have another OT colleague to rely on to report on my client. In

future activities, I want to practise speaking up more because it will better prepare me for my

future practise. I plan to practise public speaking by joining a group like Toastmasters on

campus, where one can work on improving public speaking skills.

In terms of what I did well, I am proud of my understanding of other health professions.

For example, I was able to delegate certain assessments to other students, who often agreed that

it was within their scope. Additionally, the pharmacy students in our group used a lot of

acronyms in our care plan that, had I not inquired a pharmacy student about them in the past, I

would not have been able to share our plan with the larger group (i.e. prn, bid, qhs). In hearing

me read out the abbreviations as an occupational therapy student, the pharmacy students realized

that these abbreviations may not be well-understand by other students in the group and began to

type out the full, unabbreviated meaning. In my future practise, I will use these strengths and

continue to actively seek opportunities to collaborate with members of other health professions

as well as continue my journey of lifelong learning as a health practitioner.