Interprofessionalism
Over the last year, our health care professional programs have been involved in exciting interprofessional activities, many featuring simulation. Activities have included students not only from the Faculty of Health Sciences but from other health care professional programs at uOttawa, in the region and across Canada.
Dr. Isabelle Giroux and Dr. Jacinthe Savard continue to lead the development and implementation of innovative interprofessional activities with the generous funding from the Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) – Volet Université d’Ottawa and eCampus Ontario.
As well, there has been a renewed focus on interprofessional education across uOttawa, including establishing a cross-university committee on interprofessional education activities, to connect students from different faculties.
We’d like to congratulate the Montfort Hospital on being the well-deserved recipient of a Faculty of Health Sciences Dean’s Award of Excellence in the Interprofessional Collaboration category.
We look forward to building on these activities more easily in our new space at 200 Lees Avenue.
Partnerships
We’re very proud to have community partners from coast to coast to coast that provide incredible learning opportunities for students as part of their academic programs. Our placement sites range from individual practices to large teaching hospitals and private corporations. Over the last year, we’ve negotiated and signed more than 100 agreements, for a total of 300-plus student learning agreements overall.
We’re grateful to all the supervisors and instructors who have worked under extremely stressful situations during the pandemic to deliver care and services, as well as provide learning opportunities for students and serve as their mentors on their professional journeys.
A special thank you to our many Health Sciences alumni who give back to the Faculty by providing placements and internships to their future colleagues. Many of these alumni, along with others, have also been very generous in contributing to scholarships to help students complete their programs.
Practical education
My continued thanks go out to all the academic clinical and internship coordinators and their teams who have worked over many years, but especially since the beginning of the pandemic, to ensure continued experiential experiences for students. The placement, fieldwork and internship courses form an integral part of the structured academic programs students must complete. Without the excellent work of the coordinators, students wouldn’t be able to graduate. As well, these courses serve as a critical component of external accreditation of our health professional programs.
The academic clinical and internship coordinators meet regularly throughout the year to work on issues that cross all programs.
Although the placements’ primary role is one of work-integrated learning, Faculty of Health Sciences students provide thousands of hours of much-needed health care services to people in the broader community.
I would like to thank our three nurse advisers who work closely with the clinical coordinators and students, and the community partners who make sure that students have completed all of the required health and safety pre-clinical activities before they begin their placements. These activities are critical to ensure the health and safety of not only students but also patients and clients.
I would also like to thank all the wonderful students, who have met the continuing challenges of studying during a worldwide pandemic with grace, humour and compassion.
Thank you as well to Natalie Poirier for her continued work as coordinator, interprofessionalism, partnerships and practical training processes. Lastly, thank you to the school directors, the other vice deans, the members of the dean’s office — especially Paul Bélanger and Lynn Metthé — and of course, Professor Lucie Thibault, for their support and guidance over the past year.