Laura
Smith,
PT, DPT, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Michigan-Flint
Dr. Laura Smith is an Associate Professor and Associate Director for Post Professional Clinical Development in the Physical Therapy Department at UM-Flint. Dr. Smith serves on the University of Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education Executive Committee, Curriculum Committee and she leads the Educator Development Workgroup. These experiences have afforded her the opportunity to engage with a multitude of stakeholders, manage critical aspects of strategic planning and provide oversight to collaborative work in IPECP. Dr. Smith values collaboration and the opportunity to work with diverse research teams. As an established scholar, Dr. Smith has presented to local, national and international audiences.
Presenting at the Nexus Summit:
BackgroundHealthcare educators are challenged with preparing students for a multidisciplinary team environment. Integrating interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity within healthcare curricula are important for developing the next generation of medical providers. Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative suggests that interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity are essential components for clinical practice success. Interprofessional socialization is a general process, describing how an individual becomes a contributing member within a professional…
BackgroundWith the substantial growth of Interprofessional Education (IPE), there is increasing demand for engaged, trained faculty to support ongoing IPE innovation, expansion and sustainability. While there is growing literature regarding IPE faculty development, limited literature exists regarding effective, best-practice strategies to recruit and engage new IPE faculty.DesignA “dip your toes in the water” faculty recruitment and engagement strategy was developed using personalized, collegial outreach and invitation to an experiential, exposure level “faculty observer” IPE experience. This…
BackgroundImplicit bias among health professionals fosters disparities across groups of patients. This qualitative study aims to determine how an interprofessional education (IPE) experiential program, using social determinants of health (SDH) as its framework, influenced early health profession students’ to consider SDH as they develop awareness regarding their interprofessional identity when interacting with patients. MethodologyThe Longitudinal Interprofessional Family-Based Experience (LIFE), an 11-week experiential IPE program, engaged early health professional learners through two…
Background: Students in healthcare programs who perform research alongside faculty, create the identity of a Student Health Professional Research Assistant (SHPRA). Experiences between the SHPRA and their mentor are authentic, developing interprofessional socialization and dual identity formation by demonstrating the expected knowledge, behaviors, and skills that are integrated in their respective profession. Both students and faculty gain the value of intrinsic growth and professional development through interprofessional socialization and dual identity formation.Purpose: The purpose of this…
BackgroundSimply bringing faculty together from various health care disciplines does not necessarily result in beneficial interprofessional education (IPE). It has been suggested that faculty development approaches that foster a sense of connectedness not only mitigates burnout, but creates critical space for sharing ideas, learning, socialization, and a sense of belonging. Learning communities also provide opportunities for teaching, service, and scholarship. There continue to be challenges in cultivating high performing interprofessional teams across disciplines in a large public…
Background Introductory experiential interprofessional education (IPE) is necessary for health profession students to develop team skills. Meaningful engagement with patients provides an authentic experience for students, and patients can also provide feedback about team performance. The objective of this analysis was to determine the agreement of student and family/patient evaluation of team skills and to compare these to expert ratings. These analyses provide insight into future training for student and patient ratings of team performance. MethodologyThe Longitudinal Interprofessional…