Greetings from Heidelberg

Inter-professional Education Conference, Heidelberg, June 19-22, 2018

We are now on our third day here in this beautiful city. I am a third year medical student  in Heidleberg as part of a joint trip with Robert Gordon University to learn about inter-professional learning ihere. We spent the first day getting settled in the city and seeing some of the beautiful sites. We also were introduced to Sarah Berger - one of the staff involved in inter-professional learning at Heidleberg university.

The next day, Laura Chalmers, the IPE lead at RGU and Richard Leece, a lecturer in paediatric nursing delivered a powerful IPE class to some of the students at Heidleberg. This involved a drama showing the dangers of not listening to our patients. This was extremely well received by the students and it was encouraging to see that professional values in healthcare transcend cultural boundaries.

Today Catriona McCall, a second year OT student and I delivered presentations on our own personal IPE experiences as part of a student cafe. I looked at a case study of a friend of mine that was a wheelchair user and the positive impact that the multidisciplinary team in healthcare had in his life. We were able to spend some time discussing with the students about their experiences in healthcare.

One of the most exciting aspects of the trip has been hearing of all the initiatives that Heidleberg University has in IPE. For example they have a student lead ward that involves a team of nursing, medical and physiotherapy students taking responsibility for 6 patients within the ward. It is exciting to think we may be able to develop something similar in Aberdeen!

I cannot thank our hosts enough at Heidelberg who have made us all feel so welcome. Special mention must be made to Sarah Berger who has been incredibly kind and I have learned so much about inter-professional learning from her in the three days we have been here.

I am looking forward to enjoying some German beer and Bratwurst tonight!