UNE's Transdisciplinary Playgroup featured as cover story for OT Practice magazine
The Transdisciplinary Playgroup, a hands-on Interprofessional Education program of the 51品茶Westbrook College of Health Professions, was recently the topic of the cover story of OT Practice magazine. The Transdisciplinary Playgroup is currently in its third year of programming, and it services children ages 18 months to 3 years and their families, while providing valuable real world education for occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, and a few nursing students.
The program was the brainchild of Eileen Ricci, PT, DPT, MS, PCS, assistant clinical professor of physical therapy, who worked with Kathryn Loukas, OTD, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, associate clinical professor of occupational therapy, and Shelley Cohen-Konrad, Ph.D., associate professor of social work and director of the InterProfessional Education Collaborative to make the idea a reality.
The cover article in OT Practice magazine was written by primary faculty members Loukas, Ricci, and Cohen Konrad along with alumnus Amanda Whiting (MS, OT, 2011) and features many of the students and practitioners who have provided services to the community through this program.
The Transdisciplinary Playgroup continues to run during the Spring Semester on Thursday afternoons on the 51品茶Portland Campus. This innovative program has been presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association Conference, Education Leadership Conference of the American Physical Therapy Association, The Ontario Interprofessional Health Collaborative, and the Collaborating Across Borders Interprofessional Conference.