More than 800 people from a half dozen countries descended upon the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center recently for an event that was the first of its kind in Roanoke.
The fifth international Collaborating Across Borders (CAB V) conference held in late Sept / Early Oct is the premier North American conference series on interprofessional education and collaborative practice in health and social care.
“If you’re a health care professional or a student in medicine, public health, or veterinary medicine – or even if you’re just interested in the concept of teamwork – this conference is for you,” said David Trinkle, associate dean for community and culture of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, who oversaw local planning for the conference. “This conference brings together a growing community of people, professions, and organizations committed to collaboration as the best way of providing quality care for our patients and better health outcomes.”
The conference is co-hosted by the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative and the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative. Locally, the event is hosted by the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute in collaboration with the Jefferson College of Health Sciences, Virginia Tech, and Carilion Clinic. The conference is being planned by Continuing and Professional Education at Virginia Tech.
In a competitive bid process, Roanoke was selected as the conference location, beating out a number of larger Midwestern and Northeastern cities. Trinkle said two years of planning and preparation went into the conference, designed in part to showcase Southwest Virginia and Roanoke as ideal places for mid-sized health conferences.
“Hundreds of conference goers have been introduced to the beauty and culture of Roanoke and the surrounding areas,” Trinkle said. “Among the many benefits of playing host will be the economic impact. We hope to draw more conferences here, particularly medical and health care conferences.”
A highlight will be a welcome reception at the city’s historic market. The reception will feature regional cuisine from area restaurants, locally crafted beer and wine, and bluegrass music.
The conference, The Interprofessional Journey: Advancing Integration and Impact, included sessions on education, research, and clinical practice in interprofessionalism; best practices; and the advancement of interprofessional collaboration to improve health outcomes.
Part of this year’s event was something new – a day of preconference workshops, which greatly exceeded registration expectations by 200 participants. One of the workshops featured dramatic team-based simulations using standardized patient actors and health care workers who portrayed a range of critical and emergency care situations in a simulation lab at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Interprofessional education – in which students in a range of health care programs learn together with the goal of fostering a collaborative team approach – has been shown to promote more effective, patient-centered care.
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Jefferson College of Health Sciences are both recognized national leaders in interprofessionalism education. More than two dozen faculty members from those institutions were selected as conference presenters.
Catherine Doss.
