ASCO has joined the Institute of Medicine’s Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education, which brings together a variety of groups with a common interest in the future of health professional education. Future healthcare workers will deliver care in multidisciplinary, collaborative settings that are much different from the healthcare model of the past. The Global Forum provides an opportunity for representatives of ASCO to exchange and explore innovative ideas with representatives of other health professions, as well as to represent optometry to the wide variety of participating disciplines. The Forum’s emphasis on interprofessional education (IPE) is consistent with ASCO’s focus on IPE, which President Dr. Jennifer Smythe set as a 2013-2014 priority.
Dr. Linda Casser, Dean of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University, represented ASCO in October at the Global Forum-sponsored Assessing Health Professional Education: A Workshop. Dr. Casser commented, “The recent Institute of Medicine Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education was an important one in that ASCO was a member participant for the first time, and ASCO was fully welcomed ‘to the table.’ Much of the workshop discussion was centered on the purposeful expansion and enhancement of interprofessional education and collaborative care. The profession of optometry has much to contribute to this arena, and it is essential for optometric education to be part of this dialog and effort.”