GVSU conference will address interprofessional health care initiatives

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Participants at an invitational conference in January anticipate creating a blueprint and strategies for interprofessional education among West Michigan health care providers and educational institutions.

The conference, “Developing a Model for Interprofessional Education,” will be held Friday, January 9, at Grand Valley State University’s DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton St. The conference is sponsored by GVSU, Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research Center, and Michigan State University. Attendance is by invitation only, but the conference, which will run from 8 a.m.-3 p.m., is open to media coverage.

Jean Nagelkerk, vice provost for health at Grand Valley, said participants will discuss current interprofessional educational initiatives, opportunities for collaborative research initiatives among GVSU, GRMERC and MSU’s College of Human Medicine, and how patient simulation resources can best serve the area's health care community.

Nagelkerk said the National Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., has strongly encouraged increased interprofessional initiatives and that the conference will help regional partners move toward that goal.

Conference keynote speakers are as follows:
• Linda Cronenwett is dean and professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a nationally recognized expert on the country’s nursing shortage. Cronenwett will talk about interprofessional education trends and outcomes.

• David Garr is a professor of family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina and executive director for the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium. He will discuss the education of interprofessional health care teams today and preparing teams for the future.

• Anthony Errichetti is chief of virtual medicine and professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine of the New York Institute of Technology. He has lectured worldwide on the application of patient simulations and innovative methods of training standardized patients. He will discuss interprofessional core competencies and the role of patient simulations.

For more information about the conference, contact Nagelkerk at (616) 331-2729.