2019-2020 HIPE Hospital Day

Who We Are: 

The Healthcare Interprofessional Education (HIPE) Club is a subset of Calgary Students for Interprofessional Collaboration (Calgary SIC). Members of the HIPE club constitute students from healthcare programs at SAIT: Paramedicine, Diagnostic Imaging, Respiratory Therapy, Medical Laboratory Sciences, etc. HIPE operates through Calgary SIC for collaboration with students from other healthcare disciplines outside of SAIT such as: Medicine, Nursing, Social Work, Physiotherapy, etc. Involved in this network are students from schools like University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, and University of Alberta.  

Our mission is to increase awareness of the importance of collaborative work in health care. To bring students from various healthcare programs together and facilitate a greater understanding of interprofessional relations. Our goal is to encourage transparent communication between all members of the healthcare team. 

Our vision is to achieve a higher standard of care and improve future patient outcomes while strengthening interprofessional relationships.

Our values start with communication. We use constructive criticism, self reflection and hands-on practical experiences to grow and become a valuable member of the health care team. Transparency allows students to make mistakes in a safe environment and practice exceptional skills requirements. When students work in this team environment, they get to practice with other disciplines. This is vastly different from their educational studies where they only see and practice with those of their own profession. 

“Interprofessional education... is an opportunity to not only change the way that we think about educating future health workers, but is an opportunity to step back and reconsider the traditional means of healthcare delivery. I think that what we’re talking about is not just a change in educational practices, but a change in the culture of medicine and health-care.” Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice, World Health Organization, P6.

What We Do:

We actively collaborate to develop and strengthen interprofessional education opportunities for students in health care related programs of educational institutions in Calgary.  

We design and organize simulations that foster development of positive, team-based culture within health care. These simulations help to reinforce student learning and improve future collaboration between different health care disciplines. Thus, our goal is to develop sustainable and consistent educational opportunities for health care students within higher educational institutions in Calgary and beyond. As such, we develop and maintain a repository of interprofessional education initiatives in Calgary.  

We have volunteer faculty and physician leaders who oversee the scenarios and provide feedback during the debrief period. The debrief period allows students to self reflect on their experience with their performance as well as their role within the team. Leaders then direct a positive questions and answer that includes such questions as “What did you do well?”, “What can you improve upon?” and “How can effective teamwork improve your practice?”

Photography by Amanda McColl

What We are Doing:

One such initiative is the very popular HIPE Hospital Day event, which is organized annually in February during reading week. During this event, part of the SAIT Health and Public Safety building is turned into a mock hospital with an ER, ICU, Wards, Diagnostic Imaging (DI), Medical Labs, and a Paramedicine station. Students from the various health care disciplines are organized into balanced groups, ideally with one student from each profession. Each group gets to perform a simulation exercise in each area of the mock hospital. The DI, Med Lab students perform a demonstration exercise as well, to educate each group about those professions. The turnout for this event last year was about 100 students from SAIT, U of C, Mount Royal and Bow Valley College.

Our goal is to raise $2000 for this event. Your donation will help cover the cost of hiring actors for the patient roles of the simulation exercises, prizes for participants, and “thank you” presents for faculty and physicians who facilitate the event. Your donation will also help to provide breakfast and lunch for participants as an additional incentive because it is an 8 hour event. Most importantly, your donation will help sustain this incredible interprofessional education event for another year. Every donation is tax deductible. Thank you!