ATSU hosts inaugural Interprofessional Education Collaborative Case Competition (IPE-CCC)
Posted: December 11, 2012
A.T. Still University (ATSU) faculty and staff hosted the University’s inaugural Interprofessional Education (IPE) Collaborative Case Competition in early December.
The Collaborative Case Competition was designed to give professional healthcare students an interprofessional teamwork experience and to gain insight into the collaborative practice competencies. Teams of students from a variety of disciplines were given the opportunity to teach, share and learn from each other while conducting an analysis of the collaborative efforts during the care of a patient/client. At the end of the process, they presented their findings and recommendations for enhanced collaboration to a panel of judges representing leaders from various disciplines within the healthcare programs.
The case was designed to reveal the complexity of the healthcare delivery and the need for collaboration between healthcare professionals in order to reach the best health outcomes for clients/patients.
Interprofessional education is an important initiative interwoven throughout ATSU’s strategic plan. It is an essential step in preparing collaborative, practice-ready health professionals who have learned about, from, and with each other to provide and promote a team approach to patient care and improved patient health outcomes.
Seven interdisciplinary teams of students representing nine programs from ATSU’s Arizona and Missouri campuses and Arizona’s Grand Canyon University (GCU) nursing program participated. Each team was tasked with preparing and presenting their respective analysis of the same hypothetical case developed by faculty advisors spanning all of ATSU’s health sciences schools, GCU, and Missouri’s Truman State University.
Prizes were awarded to the top three teams. The William McKinney Award for first place went to Stephen Leonard, PT, ’14; Caroline Lindsey, AuD,’16; Rebecca Tansey, D2; and Mariam Ter-Stepanian, OMS II.
Second place went to Jake Moore, OMS I; James Ruport, PT, ’15; Jessica Villarreal, GCU nursing, Michelle Weber, AT, ’14; and Brianne Wright, AuD, ’14.
Two teams were awarded third place – Grace Abruzzo, PT, ’14, and Dulce Harju, PT, ’14, and also Shoshanna Abels, OT, ’15; Suzie Aparicio, AT,’14; MaryAnn Chrzaszcz, OMS II; Kathryn Collins, PT, ’15; and Michelle Hamilton, OMS II.
“The integration of IPE within ATSU’s strategic plan is vital to student learning, intrinsic to ATSU’s mission, and yields positive results in terms of patients’ healthcare outcomes,” said ATSU President Craig Phelps, DO, ’84. “I am grateful for the cooperation of the faculty and students in planning this important learning–centered experience and am proud of the students, faculty, and staff who participated.”
The competition was an initiative driven by the Student Committee on Interprofessional Education (SCIPE) led by ATSU students Adam Bennett, D3, also a public health with dental emphasis student at ATSU’s School of Health Management, and Rochelle Zangen, PA, ’13, with hopes that it will develop into a national competition represented by many universities.
“The competition introduced the basics of collaborative care and some of the real-world difficulties interprofessional teams encounter,” said Bennett.
Barbara Maxwell, PT, DPT, MSc, vice dean for IPE considers the inaugural competition a tremendous success. “The teams showed a clear understanding of the collaborative competencies and dedication to collaboration in action. Team reflections identified many of the barriers to collaborative practice and stressed the importance whole person healthcare,” said Dr. Maxwell.
More information on the case and participants can be found at atsuccc.weebly.com and a photo gallery from the case competition is available at the official ATSU Facebook page.