Inter-healthcare Workshop SPOTS 2023
Inter-healthcare Workshop SPOTS 2023 aims to bring together students from four different healthcare courses to learn from each other the key competencies, roles and responsibilities of pharmacist, medical social worker, occupational therapist and speech & language therapist and to provide a valuable opportunity for the students to forge meaningful bonds with their future colleagues. The event was held in the NUS Pharmacy Practice Skills Hub where it included round table discussions and hands-on activities prepared by student facilitators from NUS Pharmaceutical Society Interprofessional Education Committee (NUSPS IPE), the Society of Social Work Students (SSWS) as well as the SIT Student Management Committee (SMC) from both Occupational Therapy and Speech & Language Therapy.
Group photo taken at the end of the workshop, featuring all participants and facilitators from all 4 healthcare faculties.
Around 20 participants from the different healthcare programmes attended the event, with about half of the participants from NUS and SIT, each. The participants were organized into four groups comprising a mix of students from different courses and schools to allow them to interact and learn from one another. The event started off with self-introduction and icebreakers facilitated by at least one committee member. After that, a round table discussion was held in which four facilitators from the four different healthcare programmes rotated around the tables to facilitate discussions to gain insight on the unique roles and responsibilities of the different healthcare professionals and how they contribute to patient care.
Round table discussion led by Nicole Lee from SIT Occupational Therapy
Following the round table discussion, a 30-minute mass sharing was conducted by Weng Chung (IPE Director) who presented a Parkinson’s disease patient case study which will be discussed during the hands-on activity later on.
SPOTS Mass Sharing on Parkinson’s disease by Weng Chung from NUS Pharmacy
There was a total of four hands-on activities, one conducted by NUS Pharmacy, SIT Occupational Therapy, NUS Social work and SIT Speech and language therapy, each.
Firstly, NUS Pharmacy introduced medication reconciliation to the participants. The participants formed pairs with each other and took part in a role play where they each assumed a role of the pharmacist and patient respectively. The “pharmacist” was to interview the “patient” in order to complete his medication list. The “patient” was given a choice to act as an elderly with difficulties in hearing (by donning on earplugs) or speaking (by sucking a lozenges). The second hands-on activity was led by SIT Occupational therapy. They went through briefly on the concepts of ABCDE approach as well as on home environmental modification. The participants were allowed to try out the external cues and adaptations, specifically visual cues. This involved pasting tapes as guiding points for a Parkinson’s disease patient to walk on and identifying different obstacles that are potentially hazardous to a patient in a photograph.
Hands-on activity led by NUS Pharmacy (medication reconciliation)
Hands-on activity led by SIT Occupational therapy (creating walking cues)
Next, NUS social work went through the biopsychosocial model with the participants. The participants were then made to identify the different problems the patient in the case study had and categorize them using the Biopsychosocial model. Lastly, SIT Speech and Language Therapy demonstrated to the participants on how to perform the swallow trial by providing them with sachets of thickened fluid to try preparing modified fluid for a patient with dysphagia.
Hands-on activity led by NUS Social Work (Biopsychosocial model)
Hands-on activity led by SIT Speech and Language therapy (modified fluid preparation)
The participants not only managed to make new friends but also gained new insights about the different healthcare roles through the four different hands-on activities. The collaboration between the different healthcare programmes in SIT and NUS remains strong and may this meaningful bond continue to be strengthened in the future.
Article by Lam Weng Chung (Year 2 Pharmacy student, NUSPS IPE Director) and Daryl Tan Jia Ying (Year 2 Pharmacy student, NUSPS IPE Vice Director)
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