EDUCATION for high quality health services needs to shift its emphasis away from clinically siloed care and more towards a team-based approach, according to the outcomes of this year's Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) Colloquium.
The conference examined how interprofessional education and collaboration "can make the difference to deliver culturally sensitive, empathetic and holistic care with the right combination of clinical experts".
APC CEO Bronwyn Clark said, "as health professionals, our role is to bring together the right people, at the right time for the right condition to improve health outcomes for all patients.
"This one-day symposium enabled delegates to explore trends in interprofessional education and learning that ensures effective patient-centred care.
"Strong focus was placed on cultural safety, developing empathy, improving mental health systems, handling conflict and building effective teams, and consequently how we implement these components into health profession education," Clark said.
Highlights included an explanation of the correlation between empathy and effective patient-centred care by a Monash University team, and UNE's Anna Barwick presenting her work on measuring student empathy levels.
Dr Alice Gilbert and Professor Wendy Cross examined the effects that technology is having on mental health, how that impacts on managing the health of others and a surprise section on the impact of "nomophobia", the irrational fear of being without a mobile phone.
Professor Lisa Nissen from QUT presented a hypothetical on a poor patient outcome due to lack of inter-professional collaboration with Credential Diabetes Educator Alison Menzies.
APC and ANMAC said they plan to keep the Colloquium as a regular feature on their annual calendar.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 14 May 19
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 14 May 19
