Program Showcases Work With Underserved Patients, Inter-Professional Teamwork

Participants of the Inter-Professional Faculty Scholars Program, led by the UC Health Professions Education Collaborative (HPEC), had final presentations on Tuesday, Nov. 8, in the Health Professions Building, showcasing the work they have been doing throughout the eight-month faculty development program.

Twenty-one faculty members from all four colleges in the Academic Health Center presented team projects completed during the program that focused on health care quality improvement, inter-professional teamwork and/or care of vulnerable populations. The evening event concluded with a wine and cheese reception.

Tiffiny Diers, MD, an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics and co-leader of the initiative, says the goal of the program was to develop a group of faculty with expertise in health care quality improvement and inter-professional education from across the Academic Health Center who will train health professions students to incorporate these practices into their professional careers.

"The faculty scholars in this program then put these skills into practice in collaboration with UC health professions students and HPEC faculty at the UC Open School’s Inter-professional Clinic (UCIC) at St. Vincent de Paul,” she says. The UCIC is a self-management focused clinic run on Saturday mornings where students and faculty work together to help the clients of St. Vincent de Paul manage their chronic diseases.

HPEC is a national collaborative of academic health centers committed to training learners in health care improvement. UC’s participation in HPEC began in 2005, but the UC HPEC team was awarded a $203,500 Pfizer award in September 2010 to expand the program with a tighter focus on the care of vulnerable and underserved populations.

Other team members of the UC HPEC team include Bethanne Brown, PharmD, and Jill Boone, PharmD, both from the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy; Ruth Anne Van Loon, PhD, Tina Whalen and Joan Murdock, PhD, all from the College of Allied Health Sciences; Rebecca Lee, PhD, and Valorie Grant, from the College of Nursing; and Joseph Kiesler, PhD, from the College of Medicine.

"The faculty scholar groups worked to overcome many barriers during the program, including scheduling and professional role misunderstandings,” Brown says. "It was truly a group effort that drove each of the teams to successfully complete their projects.”

"Through the improvement projects and curricula developed in their small groups, the faculty scholars are applying what they learned in the program to improve community health and to bring students across the professions together,” Diers adds. "Many of the faculty scholars are choosing to stay involved with the UCIC. It is truly inspiring to see the new connections that have been formed by this program.”