Like a spider web, human, animal and environmental health are all connected, which requires a holistic approach to improving them.

For decades, the University of Minnesota has been a healthcare leader, in part because of its recognition that health professional collaboration across diverse fields leads to delivering innovative care.

"Since 1970, the University of Minnesota has been at the forefront of interprofessional education, bringing the health sciences together through both physical proximity and a shared commitment to preparing students to learn and ultimately work in interprofessional teams,” says Brian Sick, co-director of the University’s Center for Interprofessional Health (CIH) and vice provost for academic health sciences. “This vision preceded the Institute of Medicine’s landmark 1972 report on this same topic, a national effort that also involved the University’s dean of the College of Pharmacy."

CIH is continuing that leadership by raising the visibility of its interprofessional curriculum, research and community collaborations for health sciences students and faculty across the Duluth, Rochester and Twin Cities campuses.

A stronger together mindset

While the University’s health sciences colleges and schools have varying credential requirements, CIH offers a comprehensive interprofessional curriculum, which roughly 3,300 students engage in every year, along with several co-curricular experiences. One of these co-curricular experiences is the interprofessional internship where student interns solve problems for clinical partners and develop real-world working relationships.

This includes delving into topics such as how interprofessional health communication can improve patient care, along with offering experiences to build collaboration skills through simulated training exercises or attending clinical rounds with a peer learning group.

“For example, a medical, dental and pharmacy student may be grouped during clinical rotations to better understand the roles and responsibilities for their different professions and how someone’s perspective on a case can be different from theirs,” says Cheri Friedrich, co-director of CIH and a clinical professor in the School of Nursing. “We know employers are looking for collaborative-ready staff, which is why developing interprofessional programming that includes competency development on communication, teams and teamwork, roles and responsibilities and values and ethics is so essential.” 

Health sciences faculty also greatly benefit from the center.

Several have published studies about the effectiveness of teaching the CIH curriculum. The center’s Workplace Interprofessional Learning & Development (WILD) SeriesTM also helps faculty — along with practicing clinicians both inside and outside the University — elevate their interprofessional skills in the clinic and the classroom.

Treating a bonded family

Across the state and outside the classroom, CIH collaborates with the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), which has piloted One Health Clinics, a model that offers integrated health and support services for people and animals in one location, in collaboration with community organizations and other University colleges, schools and centers.

Lauren Bernstein, an associate professor in CVM, has helped run these pilot clinics that demonstrate how closely human and animal health are connected for students.

In July, CVM and CIH partnered with the Hormel Institute in an event called "Pets and People Community Care," which brought care for the entire family into a local community. While the veterinary team provided care to dogs and cats, other University programs, in partnership with Mower County Health and Human Services, provided human family members with wellness services, free cholesterol, diabetes, and blood pressure checks, and vision and hearing screenings.

“People view pets as essential family members and may neglect their own health to ensure their pet gets proper healthcare,” Bernstein says. “Interprofessional collaboration reminds healthcare providers to consider the value of the human-animal bond and shared health determinants when designing care plans. Often, pets serve as the access point for human health services. People come for the veterinary care, but stay for the human health services.”

Seeing multiple professionals at the same time and place, therefore, can increase the chances of the pet owner taking care of their own health.

Into the wild

Beyond the pilot clinics, students can venture across Minnesota through the center’s Ecohealth Quests — multi-day collaborative retreats connecting fields such as environmental health, veterinary medicine and health policy. Students participate in small-group case study sessions, speak with faculty experts and take guided nature experiences.

Cathy McCarty, interim chair of the Medical School’s Department of Family Medicine and Biobehavioral Health on the Duluth campus, has helped run the experience several times in a few locations.

“At Itasca State Park, Raptor Center volunteers taught students about how lead in the environment, like lead sinkers used in fishing, negatively impacts raptors,” McCarty says. “Students then had to work together as an interprofessional team to figure out how to best encourage stakeholders to address the issue.”

Above all, McCarty hopes that the Ecohealth Quest experiences will foster better ecosystem health practices and advocacy.

“If we get interprofessional collaboration right, there are differences that can be resolved between health professionals if they just talk to one another.”

Learn more about the Center for Interprofessional Health.