PIHC Connect is a series of episodes that follow the journey of a pregnant woman who experiences a medical episode in a coffee shop whilst with her five-year-old child.
The Faculty of Health has six schools: Psychology, Medicine, Health Professions, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences and Nursing & Midwifery. These schools provide undergraduate programmes that include Adult Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Child Nursing, Social Work, Medicine, Dietetics, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Paramedicine, Midwifery, Biomedical Science, Podiatry, Dentistry, Optometry and Physiotherapy.
The idea of PIHC Connect is to provide an interprofessional learning experience for students where you can learn with, from and about students in other subjects and professions.
The first episode featured paramedics called to a café where the pregnant woman was reported to have had a seizure. We learned about the process and procedure and what it feels like to do the job of a paramedic. We also heard from staff and students in other professions about how the events discussed were relevant to their specialism.
Episode two saw the woman transferred to the emergency department by the paramedics, and the third episode followed the woman onto the maternity ward. Episodes four and five concentrate on her discharge and care in the community. The woman’s conditions, health issues and children present an opportunity for a genuinely interprofessional experience that develops thought-provoking discussions between professions and subjects across the Faculty of Health.
The sessions include a panel of professionals working in directly relevant areas. We also have a ‘chorus’ of people from other professions and subjects across the Faculty. The chorus explains how their specialism might be relevant to what unfolds or how they might get involved in a future episode. So even if you can’t see how your subject is relevant to an episode, the chorus will help you see how it will be later on and why being involved for all episodes will bring a richer understanding of your part of the picture.
Students and staff can watch the recordings and sign up for future episodes.
If you are external to the University but interested in being involved in PIHC Connect or other IPL please contact us using PIHC@plymouth.ac.uk