Leah Millstein, MD (SOM) and John Cagle, PhD, MSW (SSW) received a $15,000 seed grant for Enhancing Interprofessional Training on Advance Care Planning using Standardized Patients. Faculty and staff collaborating on this project are: Amanda Agarwal LCSW-C (University Health Clinic (UHC), John Allen, MD (UMMC), Danielle Baek, MD (SOM), Mel Bellin, PhD, LCSW (SSW), Steven Eveland, MBA, RN, CHPN (UMMC), Terra Hill, MSW, LGSW (UMMC), Mei Ching Lee, PhD, RN, CHPR (SON), Barbara Perez Marquez, MFA (SOM) and Debra Wiegand, PhD, RN, CCRN, CHPN, FAHA, FPCN, FAAN (SON). The IPE project will enhance knowledge and comfort of medical, social work, and nursing students on the critical topic of advance care planning, while also providing them with firsthand experience of multidisciplinary collaboration and, specifically, team-based care delivery.  Over the course of the 2018-2019 academic year, students will be educated on various advance care planning topics during training modules administered by faculty from the Schools of Medicine, Social Work, and Nursing. Students will then collaborate in an interdisciplinary clinical encounter dedicated to advance care planning with a standardized patient trained by our faculty.  The student’s experience will be assessed with a series of surveys, with the expectation that participation will improve the students’ comfort and ability to address advance care planning. To learn more, please contact Dr. Millstein at lmillste@som.umaryland.edu or Dr. Cagle at jcagle@ssw.umaryland.edu.

Danya Khoujah, MBBS, FAAEM, FACEP (SOM-EM) was awarded a seed grant in the amount of $14,156 for Simulation-Based Curriculum for Patient-Centered Communication for Medical and Nurse Practitioner Students. Faculty members Wan-Tsu Chang, MD (SOM-ED) and Veronica Quattrini, DNP, FNP-BC (SON) collaborated on this project. Simulation is a powerful tool in health professional education, and one relatively underutilized outside of critical care and anesthesia. The proposed project aims to evaluate current communication skills among medical and nurse practitioner students with simulated patients, and use a focused, multidisciplinary intervention to improve their communication skills. The pilot project will utilize a scenario of error disclosure and will involve nurse practitioner and medical students on their emergency medicine rotation. The effect of the intervention on the quality and efficiency of communication will be observed and measured using a standardized checklist. The results of this pilot will be used to guide further simulation-based interprofessional initiatives in communication in healthcare. To learn more, please contact Dr. Khoujah at dkhoujah@em.umaryland.edu.

Kimberly Claeys, PharmD, BCPS (SOP) received a $5,000 seed grant for Using Gamification to enhance the Learning of Interprofessional Antimicrobial Management. Faculty contributors to this grant are: Emily Heil, PharmD, CPS AQ-ID, AAHIVP (SOP), Neha Sheth Pandit, AAIVP, BCPS (SOP), Roseann Velez, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, FAANP (SON), Jacqueline Bork, MD (SOM) and Kerri Thom, MD (SOM). Antimicrobial resistance is an increasing global public health threat, and appropriate and judicious use of these agents is key to mitigating this threat. Education of key principles, such as antimicrobial spectrum of activity, is inconsistent among varying health professions, and students often feel unprepared to appropriately prescribe and manage antimicrobials when they graduate. Learning antimicrobial spectrum of activity often involves rote memorization; gamification through development of a smart phone-based application is a means to standardize education and assist students in the difficult task of learning antimicrobial spectrum of activity.  To learn more, please contact Dr. Claeys at kclaeys@rx.umaryland.edu.

Richard Colgan, MD (SOM), received a $14,000 seed grant for the Maryland Area Health Education Center (AHEC): AHEC Scholars Pilot. Faculty and staff collaborating on this project are: Mary Jo Bondy, DHEd, PA-C (Graduate School), Marg Hammersla, PhD, CRNP-A (SON), and Allison Robinson, MPH (SOM). The AHEC Scholars is an interprofessional program geared towards health profession students. The proposed pilot program is designed to expose students to interdisciplinary didactic and community-based clinical training in rural and/or underserved areas in Maryland. The goal is to conduct the clinical and didactic components with a small group of selected students, including medicine, nursing, physician assistant, and pharmacy, at interprofessional practices in the Baltimore, AHEC West and Eastern Shore AHEC regions. An evaluation, of both the logistics and student experiences, will be done at to inform a final AHEC Scholars educational curriculum. The full launch of the AHEC Scholars Program will be in the fall of 2019. To learn more, please contact Dr. Colgan at rcolgan@som.umaryland.edu or Allison Robinson at arobinson@som.umaryland.edu.