Health Inter-professional Mixer, September15th, 2014

This past Monday I attended the Health Inter-Professional (HIP) mixer, hosted by the College of Health Disciplines and The Faculty of Medicine at UBC. This event was for newly admitted students from healthcare professions including medicine, dentistry, nursing, dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and more. The night began with a series of short videos with messages from each program head, and then concluded with a talk given by a man who became a paraplegic in a biking accident. His story was an account of his experiences working with a wide range of healthcare professionals, and what it meant for his treatment.  I think that it is quite beneficial for the college to plan and hold events that help us to improve our collaborate teamwork skills, and events like this help bring students, who have multidisciplinary skill sets, together in order to practice patient care. In the future, as a Registered Dietitian, I will be working collaboratively with professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds, and so it is important, as a student, to begin making professional connections. I found the videos quite informative and valuable, and I was also excited to be able to speak with students from so many different healthcare fields.

It may have been the sheer number of students, or the facility, but unfortunately I did not have an entirely positive experience at the HIP mixer. It was quite a disorganized event, and there was not much time for small group discussion. Given the size of the group and the enclosed location, the session felt quite chaotic rather than conducive to professional growth. The intention was to help us, as future healthcare professionals, to create connections, but the nature of the activities and the way the mixer was organized, was not conduce to a professional environment.

It was nice to meet students from other faculties at the mixer, but perhaps next year the 1000 or so students could be split into different locations, so the groups are more condensed and personal. Additionally, perhaps next year there can be more opportunity for open discussion among students in a more flexible environment. For example, if a food table is set up, students will flock to it, and interesting discussions between students will be sure to follow. Alternatively, multiple stations could be set  up, with students moving from station to station to discuss various health topics from unique perspectives.

I would like to reiterate that I think an inter professional mixer night is a wonderful idea, and discussing health topics with a wide variety of disciplines is extremely valuable, and if the number of students can be broken up, perhaps starting in-depth discussions will be easier.