$1M Gift Expands Team-based Learning

Teamwork among healthcare professionals is essential in delivering quality patient care. DKICP students are getting important team-based learning experiences through the University of Hawaiʻi Translational Health Science Simulation Center (THSSC), which is anchored by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene.

Last month HMSA Foundation announced their commitment of $1 million to support the statewide expansion of the THSSC Hawaiʻi Interprofessional Education program (HIPE) and to establish the endowed HMSA Distinguished Professorship in Interprofessional Education. The gift will create an infrastructure that supports and coordinates innovative experiential team-based learning, and expands the HIPE program.

Current DKICP students participate in the HIPE program with students from the UH Mānoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work and the Office of Public Health Studies. Their collaboration trains students to provide safe, effective and sustainable patient-centered care within a community-oriented healthcare system.

“Interprofessional education has taught me that, while I will have a specific role as a pharmacist, I will be able to partner with my colleagues in other professions as we can build on the strengths of each other to provide patient care,” says DKICP P4 student Josephine K.S. McDonald. “By working together, we can provide our patients with optimal care.”

The THSSC brings real-life scenarios to the classroom by integrating state-of-the-art simulation equipment, electronic patient records and practices currently used in leading medical centers. Simulations can be live-streamed to sites at other campuses, and telepresence robots allow students to consult and collaborate with a team using distance/telehealth technology.

“This type of professional collaboration is so important in training future pharmacists,” says Sheri Tokumaru, Pharm.D., BCCCP, and DKICP director of interprofessional education and development. “HMSA’s recent gift to expand and support interprofessional education for UH health profession students will allow them to better develop critical communication and collaborative skills, with the end goal of improving patient care.”