Healthcare students from across College of Medicine and Health attend Understanding Dementia Workshop

25 Oct 2023

Over 160 multidisciplinary healthcare students from 10 different disciplines across the College of Medicine and Health attended ‘Understanding Dementia Together – An Interprofessional Approach’ today. 

In her opening address Professor Helen Whelton, Head of the College of Medicine and Health congratulated all involved said: “it is wonderful to see this interprofessional workshop run again this year. This is the fifth year of this excellent unique event and it continues to go from strength to strength represents a unique opportunity for students from multiple healthcare disciplines across the college to come together to learn about dementia and importantly to learn from, with and about each other’s skills in this area.

“Dementia impacts the lives of so many people. We know figures are growing”.

This collaborative approach she said will ensure that patients with dementia get timely, individualised and appropriate care throughout all stages of their care.

Professor Tony Foley, Department of General Practice said: “we need a structured, multidisciplinary model of care rather than reactive care for the many people living with dementia in Ireland. Dementia needs to be part of a National Structured Chronic Disease Management Programme. Great to see so many students from College of Medicine and Health here today collaborating, learning, sharing their skills and expertise”.

Prof. Foley said there are 64,000 people living with dementia in Ireland, predicted to increase to 142,000 by 2050. It is estimated that 25% of all over 65 year-olds in hospital in Ireland have dementia or cognitive impairment yet healthcare professionals have had little or no dementia-specific training and there has been an absence of interprofessional educational programmes. There is an urgent need to act now to transform health, social and palliative care services to meet the projected growth in palliative care needs for people with dementia”.

The workshop aims to improve the knowledge, understanding and confidence of students in healthcare to support people with dementia and their families. Crucially, it also aims to help students from a range of disciplines to learn to work and communicate effectively with one another.

Ann Twomey, patient advocate and member of The Alzheimer Society of Ireland’s Dementia Carers Campaign Network also attended. Ann spoke about caring for her husband Noel who had vascular dementia for over five years.

The UCC dementia interprofessional (IPL) learning initiative is in its fifth year having started in 2018 with occupational therapy and physiotherapy. This year students from 10 different disciplines - Medicine, Nursing, Speech & Language Therapy, Diagnostic Radiography, Radiation Therapy, Physiotherapy, Paramedics, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy and Audiology attended.

Prof. Foley said that course evaluation has found that students from previous years have valued and learned not only the importance of interprofessional learning but also the value in each other’s role in dementia care.

Dr. Aoife Fleming, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy and Vice Head for Interprofessional Learning at College of Medicine and Health said: “We are delighted that this Interprofessional education event brings students together from across a wide range of disciplines in the College of Medicine and Health. Students learn together about dementia from clinical experts and a patient advocate. Students have an opportunity to understand each others' healthcare roles and contributions in dementia care, and to consider the importance of the patient and carer perspective in living with dementia. This will prepare our students for future clinical practice in an area where communication, collaboration and teamwork skills are so important”. 

Thank you to all who attended and to the organisers Dr. Aoife Fleming, Trish O’Sullivan, Discipline of Physiotherapy, Niamh Moore, Lecturer in Diagnostic Radiography and the wider CoMH interprofessional learning group.