Interprofessionalism

We had an interprofessional education day last week with the schools of medicine, nursing, dental, pharmacy, and physical therapy. The goals, I think, were admirable; the theme was patient safety and teamwork. They really put on the table issues of working with different professionals, problems with hospital health care, and avoidance of medical mistakes. We got a complimentary book of "Internal Bleeding," cowritten by a UCSF professor Dr. Wachter. It explores the terrifying and shocking stories and statistics of preventable medical errors and tries to show how health care needs to move towards a system like aviation where there are very few (if any) mistakes.

The problem was our schedule that day sucked, so I was not too attentive. We went from 8 in the morning to 9 at night, though after the interprofessional education talk, we had a really nice reception with excellent food. In any case, I think the issues of working in a team, communicating with other professionals, and utilizing all resources are integral parts of health care.