Collaborative Health Care in Spotlight as College Again Co-Hosts Summit

The fourth annual Collaborative Care Summit – arranged by the Northeastern/Central Pennsylvania Interprofessional Education Coalition – convened at Penn College and six other higher-education sites on Wednesday. The event brought about 115 participants from a variety of majors and colleges to the Bush Campus Center, where they interacted to analyze a medical case, simultaneously learning about, from and with one another to enable effective collaboration among the professions and improve health outcomes. Sharon K. Waters, dean of health sciences at Penn College, was the Williamsport site coordinator and is a six-year member of the coalition. Participating at the Penn College site were students from Penn College, The Commonwealth Medical College, Lock Haven University and Wilkes University. Professionals – including administrators, faculty, directors, clinical coordinators, physicians and previous student participants – led small-group discussions. Eleven colleges and universities, plus the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center, are part of the coalition, which was founded in 2008. In total, 681 students and 122 facilitators were involved in Wednesday’s case study at the seven college and university sites.