The College of Public Health held three Interprofessional Education Program (IPE) sessions to address the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic with a multidisciplinary approach.
To respond to the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, starting Fall 2020 the College of Public Health organized three IPE sessions focused on COVID-19. The sessions brought together students and faculty from multiple colleges at Kent State, including Public Health, Nursing, Communication and Information (CCI), and Education, Health and Human Services (EHHS), as well as health organizations like the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and the Stark County Health Department, and other organizations like City of Brecksville, Euclid Fire Department, Akron Public Schools and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.
The purpose of the IPE sessions was to give students a broad overview of aspects about the COVID-19 response and control, bringing a multidisciplinary approach on the public-health interventions needed to address the pandemic. According to Matthew Stefanak, ambassador in the College of Public Health and facilitator of the IPE sessions, “CPH created learning opportunities for students to interact between themselves and with a very diverse audience of professionals they will be working with once they move to or continue with their public health career”.
Stefanak explained, “For the IPE sessions we recruited persons from other professions such as teachers, clinicians, nurse practitioners, specialists in marketing and communication, and faculty from other colleges. Each of these disciplines brings a different perspective about how to respond to the pandemic and during the IPE sessions those professionals have been able to challenge our students with questions about, for example, how to overcome vaccine hesitancy or how to prevent COVID-19 transmission in schools.”
The inaugural IPE session, titled “Vaccinating against the Covid-19 Virus: Engaging Multiple Sectors for a Successful Vaccination Campaign,” was held in November 2020, while the Spring 2021 session tackled the “Communications and Logistical Challenges” associated with vaccine distribution. The third session (Fall 2021) explored how “Local Health Departments and Schools Working Together to Control COVID-19 Transmission in the School Environment.”
About 40 to 50 MPH students attended each session, as Interprofessional Education is a requirement for graduate students, according to the Council on Education for Public Health, the College of Public Health’s accrediting agency. “The format is really successful: after hearing the panelists' presentation, we ask students to take up the questions that the professionals posed as a challenge and try to come up with some answers. Students really like it, especially online students, because we created a space for them to interact virtually in real time”, said Stefanak.
Stefanak added, “One common thread between all the COVID-19-related sessions so far is that students are learning that risk communication plays a very important role, and that is very important for public health professionals to be able to communicate effectively, truthfully and in a convincing way the public health message.”
The Interprofessional Education sessions will continue every semester. The Spring 2022 virtual session, titled “Reconnecting Public Health and Land Use Design,” is scheduled for Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 3:30–5:30 pm.
To learn more about the upcoming Spring 2022 IPE session, click here.
For more information about the IPE sessions, please contact Matthew Stefanak at mstefan2@kent.edu.