New facility mixes future healthcare professionals

When he studied pharmacy at Laval University in the 1970s, Jean-Pierre Grégoire said he and his classmates sometimes sat in on health-science courses given by the medical faculty.“It wasn’t at all structured in a collaborative way,” recalled Grégoire, today a researcher, professor and dean of pharmacy at North America’s oldest French-language university. “Medical students were being taught and we were just there sitting in.”That’s why he sees last month’s opening of a new integrated health sciences building on the Laval campus as the dawn of a whole new era in collaborative care. Billed as the biggest and most innovative university training centre in Quebec, it brings future healthcare students from several faculties, including pharmacy, medicine and nursing, together under one roof.The new building—actually the old Pavillon Ferdinand-Vandry, which received an $81-million overhaul and was officially opened on Sept. 27—features more than two dozen new laboratories that will be used by more than 7,000 students annually.Three of those labs (a new clinical pharmacy practice lab, a new sterile lab and a revamped lab for preparing compounds) are devoted to pharmacy students. The state-of-the-art sterile lab will also be used for continuing education courses and certification programs for practising Quebec pharmacists.According to Giguère, who became involved in the project planning process three years ago when he was appointed faculty dean, the new building is designed to both encourage and maximize mixing among students from all health science faculties.In addition to the integration and sharing of technical and training facilities and resources—everything from computer technicians to the building’s big single boardroom—he said students from the various faculties are now represented by a central committee. The new building and the emphasis on collaborative efforts is a reflection of the needs and realities of modern health care, says Grégoire.“Professionals in the field have learned to work with each other, especially in hospitals,” he says. “In primary care that is less so, since professionals work in silos and it’s more difficult for them to know each other and work together. We believe we can contribute to their future and the delivery of services by helping them to build relationships with other healthcare students. It all starts here.”

New facility mixes future healthcare professionals

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