WKU News

“Challenging Conversations: Ethical Approaches to Team-Based Care," presented by Drs. Melissa Travelsted and Kurt Neelly from Western Kentucky University (WKU) College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) were awarded the best poster in the Communication Strategies, Empathy category at the 2023 Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Poster Fair.

The Virtual Poster Fair Showcase, organized by IPEC, aimed to spotlight the research and scholarship of teams who have developed and implemented interprofessional education for collaborative practice (IPECP) projects. This event served as a platform to share experiences and programs from 50 teams representing 49 different graduate and undergraduate health professions programs from across the United States and internationally, including participants from India and Brazil.

The poster presentation demonstrated a commitment to fostering interdisciplinary dialogue around difficult ethical problems in patient care and end-of-life care. The initiative stemmed from a book club established by the CHHS Interprofessional Education (IPE) workgroup, which garnered a positive response from the book, “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi. This led to the CHHS IPE workgroup hosting an interdisciplinary panel discussion regarding the ethical and moral issues of care inspired by the book. The forum was moderated by CHHS faculty, Dr. Bland (SLP) and Dr. Neelly (PT), while the panel was composed of the staff of a local hospice which included physicians, nurses, a chaplain, and the community volunteer organizer.

CHHS faculty members and a CHHS graduate research assistant  who contributed to the poster are:

The poster winners and presentations from the 2023 IPEC Poster Fair have been published on the IPEC website here,  offering a valuable resource for educators, practitioners, and students interested in interprofessional education and collaborative practice.