Though they are all involved in educating future health care professionals, Wichita's health education institutions sometimes seem only remotely aware of one another's presence.

Individuals from those institutions sometimes collaborate with one another. But the entities themselves have no way to facilitate these fruitful exchanges.  

A new initiative aims to change that. Starting with a Health Education Summit held last month, the effort aims to set up a structure through which the institutions can work together in a coherent fashion rather than on strictly an ad-hoc basis.  

The summit was called by Dr. Garold Minns, dean of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita, and Dr. Sandra Bibb, dean of the WSU College of Health Professions. About 40 department chairs and other leaders from those two schools and Newman University were invited to what turned into a wide-ranging, two-hour discussion.  

"Everybody clearly acknowledged that yes, we do need to formalize what we're doing interprofessionally in terms of education, research, practice and just overall collaboration," Bibb said.  

The summit grew out of discussions that Bibb had with Minns and Dr. James Kallail, the medical school's associate dean for research, after she arrived in Wichita last summer from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, where she had been associate dean for faculty affairs at the Graduate School of Nursing.  

"One of the reasons I came here is because I have long been interested in interprofessional teams," Bibb said. "I recognized there was an opportunity to achieve one huge team in Wichita." Interprofessional training has also been at emphasis at the medical school under Minns.  

Kallail said each of the institutions has areas of expertise that the others could draw on, plus collaboration could facilitate opportunities for using resources more efficiently, both in terms of facilities and faculty. "There are things that are expensive, including faculty," Dr. Kallail said. "You don't need every institution doing the same thing."  

Attendees agreed that the logical first step is for the participants to get more familiar with one another. There are a couple of themed gatherings scheduled for the summer that will be social in nature but also include either round tables or an organized presentation. The first two will cover interprofessional education and research, with other topics addressed in the fall.  

Other key points that came out of the meeting:

• Representatives of hospitals and other educational partners should be involved.
• There should be themed groups within whatever structure evolves.
• Student and faculty involvement will be important.  

The deans plan to schedule a second Health Education Summit in the fall. They've also directed that discussions start on how the institutions can share calendars and a database of faculty interests. Bibb came away from the first summit pleased by the turnout and enthusiasm of participants. "People were insistent that we not lose momentum."