Showing posts with label oklahoma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oklahoma. Show all posts

Saturday, November 9, 2019

My First CAB!

My First CAB!
By: Katie Eliot PhD, RDN

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending my first Collaborating Across Borders (CAB) VII meeting in Indianapolis.  For the past several years, I’ve wanted to go to CAB and it has never worked out.  But this year was my year!  In my first year as a full time faculty member at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, I was able to join a team of 10 other faculty members from several different professions across campus.  CAB is the premier interprofessional meeting for US and Canada that attracts scholars from around the world.  A few highlights of my time at the meeting were…

Getting to know my new IPE colleagues.  
Stepping out of the office and experiencing a professional meeting together is a great way to get to know your co-workers better.  Thanks to the expert planning of our fearless leader and Assistant Director of Interdisciplinary programs at the OUHSC, our team had plenty of time to catch up over dinner and always found a table together at the combined meeting sessions.  One of the best parts was that two 3rd year medical students joined the team on the trip.  I loved getting to hear their perspectives and energy for their future careers in team-based health care.  Engaging with students always leaves me feeling more energetic about my own work and hopeful about our future health care work force.


Catching up with colleagues from around the country
The exciting thing about CAB is that it brings together scholars and educators from around the world and the more I dig into this work, the deeper embedded I become in the fabric of those with the same mission of improving health care through IPE.  In fact, the opening reception felt like a reunion, complete with outstanding food, excited conversations and even a photo booth!  I re-connected with former colleagues from Saint Louis University, collaborators from several institutions and members of national groups like IPEC and the National Academy of Medicine Global Forum.  The best part was getting to hear about the exciting things going on in others’ research and practice from so many different perspectives.


Learning more about IPE assessment
I was tasked with going to sessions that focused on assessment, which is a huge interest of mine.  In session after session, I was engaged in conversations about best practices for evaluating our students’ learning in IPE.  There were so many outstanding instruments and ideas that I was excited to bring back to campus and employ in our program here.  I look forward to seeing how we can incorporate these to make our learning environments even more impactful.

In all, it was a great experience and I am already thinking about CAB VII which will be held somewhere in Quebec, Canada in 2021!

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Intentionality is Key to Maintaining Interprofessional Collaboration and Scholarship


Collaborating Across State Borders 
By: Katie Eliot PhD, RDN, FAND

There were big changes at BE-Collaborative over the summer.  We found out in the spring that I would be moving to Oklahoma with my family for my husband to pursue a career opportunity.  While it was a hard decision to leave St. Louis and Saint Louis University, the best part about collaborative work is that the foundation we built as scholars would be able to carry on, no matter the geographic distance separating our offices.

I am currently teaching classes at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and getting my family settled in to their new school while putting the finishing touches on a brand new house.  Even with all of that going on, I’ve had some time to reflect on the benefits of a collaborative partnership.

A couple of things the move has taught me about being collaborative:
  • Staying connected requires intentionality.  At SLU, my office was across the hall from Tony’s.  It was easy to pop into each other’s offices with a question, word of encouragement or sometimes just a quick little vent about something that wasn’t going quite right.  Now, we have to schedule times to talk on the phone and be more intentional about keeping each other filled in on our work.
  • Staying motivated requires intentionality.  To piggyback off my previous thought…it is easier to get distracted when you aren’t running into colleague in the hallway or at a meeting.  Days can turn into weeks and I realize I haven’t looked at the project.  We’ve learned to set deadlines and to give each other gentle (or sometimes not so gentle) reminders to keep working.


The bottom line is that collaboration requires intentionality but a solid foundation among colleagues will help to extend work beyond state borders.  In fact, right now, we are working on writing a book chapter, a multi-institution research study and our IPE consulting business.

We are picking up steam and looking forward to what the future collaborations will bring!