It takes a team: The Evolution of an Interprofessional Student-Led Clinic

Description:

In 2003, the University of Manitoba’s Department of Physical Therapy launched an annual “Neuro Rehab Clinic (NRC)” to address a specific gap: a shortage of neurology-related clinical placements. Fast forward over 20 years: this single profession clinic has transformed into an interprofessional experiential learning environment that gives students authentic hands-on opportunities to collaborate with other health profession students while providing care.

The renamed “Student-Led Interprofessional Clinic (SLIC)” has expanded to bring together students from physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, pharmacy, and nursing. Feedback from students, clients, and preceptors has been overwhelmingly positive. Feedback received has been integrated to continuously make changes to improve student learning (but not without some speedbumps along the way).

This presentation will give an overview of the clinic’s continued evolution, sharing the practical lessons learned about what worked (and didn’t) to transform a clinic from a group of students into genuine interprofessional learning teams. We’ll cover how SLIC built experiences that benefit everyone involved: students gaining collaborative skills, clients receiving more holistic care, and programs meeting targets for clinical experiences for their learners.

Speaker Biographies:

Sarah Conci

Sarah Conci is an instructor in the Department of Physical Therapy within the College of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Manitoba. She has been a physical therapy clinical instructor at the Student-Led Interprofessional Clinic (SLIC) since 2018 and served as the SLIC Coordinator from 2018 to 2026. She is often affectionately called the SLIC “mastermind”. Sarah is also a practicing physical therapist with extensive experience in acute care and neurological rehabilitation environments. She is passionate about interprofessional collaboration and believes that when health professionals work together, they not only create a more enjoyable and rewarding learning and working environment but can also draw on their collective expertise to provide better care and help clients achieve meaningful health outcomes.

Lisa Mendez

Lisa Mendez is an instructor in the Department of Occupational Therapy within the College of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Manitoba and is the Collaborative Healthcare Practice Lead for the Office of Interprofessional Collaboration (OIPC). While her primary role within the OIPC has been to develop interprofessional community engaged learning opportunities within Indigenous communities, she was a preceptor for the OT students at SLIC in 2023 and 2024 and has been supporting the clinic’s growth and development. She is often affectionately called the SLIC “schemer”.