51С�Ƴ�

The beeping and humming of medical equipment and monitors greeted Kierstin Strich ’26 as she entered a small room in the Arthor P. Girard Innovation Hall on the University of 51С�Ƴ� Portland Campus for the Health Sciences.

With white walls, fluorescent lighting, and a bed as its focal point, the room looked every bit like a hospital patient room. But the control room in the Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center with its life-like mannequin creates a realistic hospital scenario for the purpose of student learning. 

Stritch, a first-year physician assistant (PA) student, participated in an interprofessional simulation lab experience in the simulation room that brought together students from various health care disciplines, including PA, medical, and nursing programs. The aim was to provide the students across many health care disciplines with hands-on learning opportunities in a controlled, realistic environment before taking their training to a clinical setting. 

“It was really incredible to work alongside students from other programs and see how we can all contribute to patient care,” said Stritch, who is originally from Gray, Maine, and is the vice president of her class.

The lab, designed to coincide with cardiac and pulmonary modules across different disciplines, focused on essential physical exam skills common to all health care providers. Participants rotated through four stations, each equipped with high-fidelity mannequins, allowing students to practice and refine their clinical skills in vital signs, lung and heart sounds.

Christopher Bates-Withers, MMS, PA-C, assistant clinical professor and assistant program director for the PA program in the Westbrook College of Health Professions, who helped coordinate the event, emphasized the importance of this approach, known as interprofessional education, or IPE. 

“These activities provide additional opportunities for skills practice and allow students to learn from different perspectives,” he said last fall. “It’s a chance for students to see what each discipline brings to the table in terms of knowledge and expertise.”

For Stritch, who came to the PA program with experience as a radiology technician in interventional radiology and emergency medicine from MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland, the IPE experience reinforced the importance of collaboration in health care. 

“In my previous role, I worked daily with nurses, technicians, PAs, physicians, and neurosurgeons,” she explained. “This lab experience reminded me of how crucial it is for different health care professionals to work together seamlessly.”

In this IPE experience, Stritch said she was able to see what knowledge bases each discipline brought to tackle the same task. That helped her foster a deeper understanding of each profession’s role in patient care. Stritch believes the experience will make her a more well-rounded health care professional because it encouraged her to ask questions of other health care professionals in order to provide the best care for her patients.

“It was eye-opening to see how different disciplines approach the same clinical scenarios,” Stritch noted, adding that it was fun to work with both PA and College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) faculty. “This experience will definitely make me a better collaborator in my future practice.”

Bates-Withers also highlighted the rare advantage of bringing together students who might not typically interact. 

“This particular activity actually brings together some groups of students that just because of geographical boundaries might not necessarily overlap otherwise,” he said, noting that medical students are currently being taught on the Biddeford Campus, though Maine’s only medical school plans to move to Portland in the coming year.

At UNE, IPE experiences built into the curriculum, like this simulation lab, are becoming increasingly more common. This spring semester, Stritch said she has more IPE on the horizon in and out of the classroom, including an opportunity to learn about end-of-life care and the role of a chaplain in those moments.  

Students also have opportunities to seek out interprofessional learning and research opportunities with the Center to Advance Interprofessional Education and Practice, a center dedicated to preparing students to work collaboratively across disciplines to achieve more successful outcomes as members of clinical and community teams.

“At UNE, we’re not just training health care providers,” said Bates-Withers. “We’re cultivating collaborative practitioners that the health sector knows are ready to lead and innovate in a landscape that demands both expertise and teamwork.”