Seed Grants

Gloria Reeves, MD (SOM) received a $14,789 seed grant for The Resilience Project: an interprofessional educational program on adaptive stress response for individuals in a high-risk occupation. The contributing faculty and staff include Mark Kvarta, MD, PHD (SOM), Lieutenant Todd Ring (UMB Police), Susan dosReis, BSPharm, PhD (SOP), Kristin Bussell, PhD, CRNP-PMH (SON), and Aniket Bera, PhD (UMCP). The Resilience Project is a 10-session, interprofessional educational program that brings together experts and trainees from five professions for collaborative learning on trauma and resilience through the lens of police work.  The instructors will include experts in policing and police training (UMB Police), biopsychosocial responses to traumatic experiences (UMB Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy), and technological tools that can be used to improve training on adaptive stress response (UMCP computer science).  Trainees from each of these five professions will participate in didactic sessions followed by team-based, applied activities, including interview of police officers, completion of virtual reality simulation tasks on routine (non-violent) police activities, and development of a police training initiative to promote resilience.  These sessions will address several unmet needs in clinical training on stress and trauma by focusing on resilience strategies, addressing unique needs of individuals with ongoing trauma exposure, learning directly from “lived experience” of individuals in high-risk occupations, and integrating technology expertise to discuss prevention and training strategies. To learn more contact Dr. Reeves at greeves@som.umaryland.edu.

Lori Edwards, DrPH, MPH, BSN, RN, CNS-PCH, BC (SON) received a $15,000 seed grant for Building health literacy skills in interprofessional student teams to enhance health education with Baltimore neighbors. The contributing faculty include Linda B. Horn, PT, DScPT, MHS (SOM-PT), Daniel Z. Mansour, PharmD, BCGP, FASCP, AGSF (SOP), Vincent Conroy, PT, DScPT (SOM-PT), Cynthia Baur, PhD, MA (UMCP), Alice M. Horowitz, PhD, RDH (UMCP), Nair Cecilia Velez, DDS (SOD), and Lisa Bress, RHD, MS (SOD). The Building Health Literacy Skills in Interprofessional Student Teams to Enhance Health Education with Baltimore Neighbors project is designed to improve interprofessional education by teaching teams of students how to do teach-back in provider-patient communication as an element of team-based care. This educational program will prepare students to understand the role and value of teach-back in interprofessional teams; understand key elements of effective teach-back; and how to implement teach-back in interprofessional teams to support patients. University of Maryland Baltimore students participating in the Health Alliance Center for Community Engagement health education service days will learn how to use teach-back through didactic learning, practicing case scenarios, critique from fellow students and faculty, and reflection activities. To learn more contact Dr. Edwards at edwards@umaryland.edu.

COVID-19 Seed Grants

Amy Kruger Howard, PharmD (SOP) received at $25,000 seed grant for Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say - Increasing Plain-Language Communication in Team-Based Care. The contributing faculty include Jill A. Morgan, PharmD, BCPS, BCPPS (SOP), Elsie Stines, DNP, CRNP (SON), and Kimberly Street, LMSW, LPN, CCM (SSW). The Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say - Increasing Plain-Language Communication in Team-Based Care project is designed to improve interprofessional education by focusing on the importance of health literacy and avoiding jargon in patient-level communication, particularly during telehealth care visits.  This educational program will prepare students and clinicians to incorporate plain-language use into oral and written patient communications.  Additionally, we hope to increase students’ self-awareness of and the ability to minimize jargon use.  University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) students participating in the President’s GI Clinic will partake in a virtual curriculum including educational sessions, patient visits, and post-visit debriefs. To learn more contact Dr. Howard at akhoward@rx.umaryland.edu.

Andrea Levine, MD (SOM) received a $$25,000 COVID-19 seed grant for COVID-19 Recovery Clinic (CRC): A Multidisciplinary Clinic for Survivors of COVID-19. Siu Yan Amy Yeung, PharmD (SOP) is the contributing faculty on the project. There is a growing population of patients who are survivors of COVID-19 illness. Many of these patients require a prolonged admission to the intensive care unit and will require coordinated and multidisciplinary care after discharge. The role that COVID-19 will play on these patients’ propensity to develop the PICS is entirely unknown. Additionally, more than half of patients who get COVID-19 will have prolonged and refractory symptoms of the virus, regardless of the severity of their acute illness. Survivors of COVID-19 are complex and require follow-up care in a multidisciplinary clinic in order to optimize their recovery. This clinic will provide high-quality holistic care to patients while serving as an opportunity for medicine and pharmacy trainees to participate in multidisciplinary care. To learn more contact Dr. Levine at andrea.levine@som.umaryland.edu.

Kyle Hatten, MD (SOM) received a $20,100 COVID-19 seed grant for Statewide Virtual Oncologic Care Coordination During COVID-19 Pandemic. The contributing faculty include Eun-Shim Nahm, PhD, RN, FAAN (SON), Shannon K. Idzik, DNP, CRNP, FAANP, FAAN, (SON), Rodney J. Taylor, MD MSPH, (SOM), and Veronica Quattrini, DNP, MS, FNP-BC (SON). Head and neck cancer care often requires multiple treatment modalities including surgery at a tertiary care center with adjuvant treatment, including radiotherapy and chemotherapy, performed in community cancer programs at various locations. The current proposal aims to expand multi-institutional oncologic tumor boards that facilitate a treatment recommendations and oncologic care plans for patients designed between various centers, optimizing transition of care, functional and oncologic outcomes. While the implementation of a virtual meeting platforms has been trialed within multiple hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, this will the first program in Maryland to bridge oncologists who provide multidisciplinary care for the same patient from different locations. The program will complement in-person care with a virtual meeting format to integrate physically distant teams and generate a consensus recommendation, treatment plan, and surveillance regimen that has not been offered prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The treatment plan and longitudinal care of the patients will be created, coordinated, and implemented with the support of students as part of the IPE curriculum. To learn more contact Dr. Hatten at khatten@som.umaryland.edu.