# Interprofessional day – an educational event for medicine and the allied health professions at the University of Lübeck

## TL;DR

The University of Lübeck's Interprofessional Day promotes collaboration among healthcare students through workshops and mixed-group activities.

## Contribution

The event fosters interprofessional teamwork and breaks down social barriers among students from diverse healthcare fields.

## Key findings

- The 2024 evaluation showed overall positive feedback, with high ratings for the health knowledge insights workshop.
- Students highlighted the value of mixed groups and workshops as successful aspects of the event.
- Feedback suggested changes to the opening session length and event weekday for future improvements.

## Abstract

“Interprofessional day” was called into being to address the growing importance of interprofessional collaboration in healthcare. Participants are all students in their second semester of study in medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, midwifery, occupational/speech therapy, health and healthcare sciences, and applied nursing science at the University of Lübeck (UzL). This full-day event is a permanent fixture in the curricula of these degree programs.

Since 2014 a number of healthcare degree programs have been created at UzL opening up new opportunities for interprofessional teaching and learning. Interprofessional day offers students the chance to strengthen their sense of belonging to the university's medical department, break down social barriers and become more consciously aware of the roles in interprofessional collaboration.

In 2024 this included a main session to open and close the event plus a group phase during which the students attended two workshops.

The evaluation in 2024 was done online using a self-devised questionnaire which was completed by 160 out of 260 students. The evaluation of the interprofessional day was overall positive. The workshop on health knowledge insights received the highest ratings. The question about which aspects of the event were most successful elicited responses identifying the mixed groups and the workshops, among other aspects. In their responses to the query about what should be changed, the students mentioned, among other things, the length of the opening session and the weekday on which the event was held.

This project contributes to the interaction and exchange between students pursuing different professions, the breakdown of social barriers and emphasizes the importance of teamwork to patient care. This event will continue with revisions to its concept and the possibility of including trainees in the allied health professions and students in the psychology degree program.