Building Better Students: Doisy College Dean Shares Ideas on Interprofessional Education

ST. LOUIS – As part of an ongoing commitment to educate students in a wide variety of allied health disciplines, Charlotte Royeen, Ph.D., dean of the Doisy College of Health Sciences at Saint Louis University, co-organized a four-day conference in Denver aimed at rural training of health professional students.

Forty leaders from across the country attended the Leadership in Rural Health Interprofessional Education conference, each of whom submitted an abstract outlining an area relevant to interprofessional rural health education and shared ideas.

Royeen focused on accreditation standards in the various health professions and determining if they are compatible with current recommendations by the Institute of Medicine and other commissions.

"It turned out to be the crux of what everyone (at the conference) thought needed to happen – to make change at the level of professional accreditation to require interprofessional activity," Royeen says, noting that the manuscripts presented during the conference will be published in book form soon.

"One way to look at Doisy College's interprofessional initiative in education, research and practice is as Jesuit education for health care providers," Royeen says. "Jesuits offer a broad education where students study subjects that are outside of the majors and careers they are pursuing. They become more well-rounded people who are men and women for others.

"Our interprofessional initiatives educate the whole health care provider with the ultimate goal of offering the best quality patient care. Once our students understand the full arsenal of care that each can bring to a patient, they can offer a different, patient-centered treatment that is truly Jesuit."

Irma Reubling, PT, professor of physical therapy and director of interprofessional education at Doisy College of Health Sciences, and Mary Ann Lavin, Ph.D., professor of nursing and director of the Center for Interprofessional Education and Research at Saint Louis University, were also invited to attend the conference.

Long a leader in health professions education, Saint Louis University began its nursing program in 1928 and the first baccalaureate degree program in an allied health profession in 1929. Today the Doisy College of Health Sciences offers degrees in nursing, clinical laboratory sciences, health information management, investigative and medical sciences, nuclear medicine technology, nutrition and dietetics, occupational science and occupational therapy, physical therapy and a physician assistant education.

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