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Professor Luplow's Article on Interprofessional Health Care and Diabetes Published in Journal

Ferris StFerris State Universityate University associate professor Dean Luplow recently published an article in the Health and Interprofessional Practice journal titled “Michigan College of Optometry Interprofessional Wellness Clinic: Focus on Diabetes.”

The article, published in April, discusses the collaboration of optometry, nursing and pharmacy students and faculty at Ferris to aid in diabetes management.  

“Interprofessional practice is a potential wave of the future, utilizing multiple practices under one roof, which is more comprehensive to the patient,” Luplow said. “The patient leaves the clinic with a better understanding of their disease, how all the body parts work together, how all the health practices work together and what they need to know to help control the disease.”

In the collaborative clinic, patients learn about the disease and how to manage it from each professional. Each patient’s blood sugar and cholesterol level is tested, and they are also given a hemoglobin reading and eye examination. Pharmacy students discuss medications with them.

“To me, the article is a means to present to others how we are structured and how we function here at Ferris,” Luplow said. “The hope is that other schools who are teaching interprofessional practice and providing healthcare can gain insight to help improve their program.”

Health and Interprofessional Practice is a peer-reviewed, academia-directed journal designed to help people who are in practice understand how other people in interprofessional healthcare work together with multiple providers and different disciplines.

Luplow ran his own practice for 20 years before he began teaching at Ferris, where he has been for almost four years. He hopes to improve Ferris’ interprofessional clinic and expand it into other areas of healthcare, such as dental hygiene.

The Interprofessional Wellness Clinic, as an interdisciplinary patient care and educational project, began at Ferris in January 2004.