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The Universities at Shady Grove is a unique satellite campus where nine University Systems of Maryland Institutions offer select programs. Under the director of Katherine Morris, LCSW-C, Baccalaureate Social Work Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Ronald Rivlin, M.Ed., Service Integration Coordinator with Montgomery County, Md., students from the University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland Baltimore County and University of Maryland Baltimore, participated in an 8-week internship with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (MCDHHS). Seventeen students were selected through a competitive process to work in two teams on projects based on authentic scenarios. The students learned about roles and responsibilities in a collaborative health care delivery setting. They experienced a multidisciplinary approach to health care delivery thanks to team visits to various facilities such as a mental health crisis center, community clinic, detention and pre-release centers, and family crisis center. Participation in authentic case studies also helped the students understand how the interdisciplinary approach to a client’s well-being is implemented. Communication, ethics, and effective delivery of health care were stressed, as well as the core competencies of each discipline.
Growing evidence supports the implementation of team-based care delivery to improve health outcomes and community relations. The goal of IPE is to prepare all students of health professions for purposeful collaboration, with a common objective of building safer, more effective patient/client relationships and a community-oriented health care system. Interprofessional teamwork thus requires well-designed preparation and training of future public health professionals. IPE ensures that the community has access to all the services because of the communication and collaboration between professions.