Conducting the Orchestra: Establishing Institutional Relationships and Gaining Buy-in for a Large-scale, Virtual Interprofessional Event

Nova Southeastern University (NSU), like many others, has experienced the need to shift our curricular activities to a virtual format in the wake of a global pandemic. This includes the ability to offer our learners meaningful interprofessional experiences when they are unable to connect in a physical space. To maintain the ground gained in the past ten years of integrating interprofessional education into our curriculum, our goal was to provide a diverse offering of collaborative activities over the course of a three-hour, virtual event. While this shift met the needs of the current situation, it also allowed us to be more inclusive of our seven regional campuses. This inclusion would hold us accountable for providing an equitable experience for all students, regardless of physical location.
The development and execution of the NSU Health Professions Division Interprofessional Education Day (NSU-HPD IPE Day) includes the coordination of eight campuses, 30 concurrent ZOOM rooms, twenty professions, over 1,900 students, and 120 volunteer facilitators. Experiences of the event included a simulated telehealth encounter, a virtual escape room, and an interactive interprofessional presentation. This large-scale, live, virtual event demanded a coordinated effort of a multitude of institutional departments. Of particular note, was the partnership built between the event planning committee and the Office of Innovation and Information Technology (OIIT). While IT is often used in the execution of online events, what made this partnership unique was the inclusion of an OIIT representative in the entire planning process and their assistance in developing planning mechanisms that streamlined the process leading up to the event.
With so many moving parts of a large-scale event, maintaining relationships, meeting the needs of event participants, and the organization of key institutional stakeholders is imperative to a successful interprofessional event.