LSU Health New Orleans School of Allied Health Professions to Receive ASAHP Award for IPE Excellence and Innovation

August 21, 2023

The Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) has selected LSU Health New Orleans’ School of Allied Health Professions as the recipient of the 2023 ASAHP Award for Institutional Excellence and Innovation in Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Collaborative Health Care.

Since 2017, LSU Health New Orleans’s School of Allied Health Professions has participated in Team Up®, a two-year longitudinal interprofessional education experience integrated within the curriculum of all six LSU Health New Orleans schools for first and second-year students. Students also engage in single IPE experiences in simulation labs, hospital training labs, clinics, or in the community. As well, students can participate in Interprofessional Student Alliance community projects to address health-related disparities in underserved communities.

The School of Allied Health Professions was awarded a grant for the Interprofessional Preparation for Related Services Personnel Serving Children with Disabilities Who Have High-Intensity Needs. This personnel preparation grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, grew out of the desire to increase the diversity of the student body in the SAHP. The grant program provides tuition funding for students completing graduate training in related services professions.

The Leadership in Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) grant program supports interprofessional development by preparing graduate students, family members, self-advocates, and practicing professionals to become future leaders in designing and implementing services, policies, advocacy, and consuming/conducting research and evaluation addressing the needs and priorities of children with autism spectrum disorders, other neurodevelopmental disabilities, and developmental disabilities and their families.

“The School of Allied Health Professions at LSU Health New Orleans appreciates that interprofessional education is the leading process of learning used to foster collaborative practice and improve health outcomes,” notes Interim Dean Erin Dugan, PhD. “It prepares our student learners to work as a team to provide quality care and education to patients. We are so pleased with this recognition of the high quality of our programs.”

Those helping prepare the award application included Erin Dugan, PhD, Interim Dean; John B. Zamjahn, Ph.D., MHS, RRT, RPFT, Cardiopulmonary Science; Daniel Held, MHS, MT(ASCP)SBB, Medical Laboratory Science; Amber Weydert, MMS, PA-C, Physician Assistant Studies Program; Michael C. Norman, Ph.D., M.C.D., C.C.C./SLP, Human Development Center; Tina Patel Gunaldo, PhD, DPT,MHS, Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice; and Janet Southerland, DDS, MPH, PHD, Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs.

The World Health Organization defines IPE as follows. “Interprofessional education occurs when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. Once students understand how to work interprofessionally, they are ready to enter the workplace as a member of the collaborative practice team. This is a key step in moving health systems from fragmentation to a position of strength.”

“The collaborative model of Interprofessional Education provides the platform at LSU Health New Orleans to build high quality health care teams that can and will effect change in improving health outcomes across individuals and communities,” adds Dr. Southerland.

The Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) is a not-for-profit national professional association of 116 academic institutions and four professional associations to advance health professions education and discovery through interprofessional collaboration, leadership, excellence, and innovation.

“There were many outstanding submissions which highlighted the important efforts by ASAHP member institutions working interprofessionally to improve health and education in their communities,” wrote Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP, FNAP, Chair of ASAHP’s Interprofessional Task Force. “Congratulations on this well-deserved honor!”

The award will be presented at the 2023 ASAHP Annual Conference in October.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans (LSU Health New Orleans) educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's health sciences university leader, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine with campuses in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous annual economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment or cure disease. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO, or http://www.facebook.com/LSUHSC.

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