Leah Millstein, MD (SOM), Paula Rosenblatt, MD (SOM), and John Cagle, PhD, MSW received a $15,000 seed grant for An Interprofessional Training to Improve Advance Care Planning Skills of Students and Healthcare Professionals by Collaborating with Oncology and Palliative Care Champions. Faculty and staff collaborating on this project are: John Allen, MD (SOM), Mel Bellin, PhD, LCSW (SSW), Steven Eveland, MBA, RN, CHPN (UMMC), Mei Ching Lee, RN, PhD, CHPN (SON), Barbara Marquez, MFA (SOM), Anita Tarzian, PhD, RN (SON), and Heather Mutchie, Graduate Research Assistant (SOM). The IPE project is designed to enhance knowledge and comfort of medical, social work, and nursing students on the critical topic of advance care planning, while simultaneously training oncology fellows, nurses, and social workers to be champions of ACP and interdisciplinary communication. Student participants will be provided education on ACP topics followed by firsthand experiences of multidisciplinary collaboration and team-based care delivery by shadowing clinical champions in the oncology setting. Students’ and champions’ experiences will be assessed with a series of surveys, with the expectation that participation will improve: (1) the students’ comfort and ability to address ACP; and (2) the champions’ ability to model optimal clinical communication strategies. To learn more, contact Dr. Millstein at lmillste@som.umaryland.edu, Dr. Rosenblatt at prosentbaltt@umm.edu or Dr. Cagle at jcagle@ssw.umaryland.edu.

Dima Ghunaim, DDS, MS, FACP (SOD) was awarded a $10,200 seed grant for Interprofessional Care for Head and Neck Radiation Patients. The contributing faculty and staff included Tiffany Tyer, CRNP-AC, AOCNP (UMMC), Se-Lim Oh, DMD, MS (SOD), Cynthia Idzik-Starr, DDS (SOD), Donita Dyalram, MD, DDS, FACP (SOM), Bridgette Gourley DNP, and FNP-BC (SON). The purpose of the IPE project is to train the dental and nurse practitioner students in the comprehensive care for head and neck cancer patients and to educate our students on the concept and importance of interprofessional care for cancer patients. Additionally, the aim was to increase the comfort of dental and nurse practitioner students in the management and coordination of care of cancer patients. The students will rotate in the dental clinic at University of Maryland School of Dentistry, radiation oncology at the Greenbaum Cancer Center and the oral and maxillofacial head and patients will be evaluated using pre- and post- survey questionnaires. To learn more, contact Dr. Ghunaim at dghunaim@umaryland.edu.

Doris Titus-Glover, PhD, MSN (SON) received a $15,000 grant for Interprofessional Education Awareness (IDEA) for Maternal Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). The contributing faculty included Fadia Shaya, PhD, MPH (SOP), Christopher Welsh, MD (SOM), Jamie Swietlikowski, MS (SOM), Rebecca Wiseman, PhD, RN, MSN (SON), Kathleen Hoke, JD (SOL), Rebecca Vivrette, PhD (SOM), Katherine Fornili, DNP, MPH, RN, CARN, FIANN (SON). The Interprofessional Education (IPE) project will engage students, faculty and health professionals from the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing, and Law in innovative and stimulating learning opportunities to enhance knowledge of opioid treatment among pregnant and parenting women. OUD contributes to maternal/neonatal morbidity and mortality but is often challenging to treat. IPE IDEA will actively engage participants in an educational workshop guided by a curriculum that is informed by patients, experienced providers, subject matter experts and national recommendations to build core skills and learn interdisciplinary strategies to bridge treatment gaps. The overall aim of IPE IDEA is to build a sustainable workforce of health professionals who will apply integrated skills, knowledge and targeted interdisciplinary strategies to manage the care of pregnant women with OUD and ultimately promote healthy maternal and neonatal outcomes. To learn more, contact Dr. Titus-Glover at dtitus-glover@umaryland.edu. Click to access the white paper and final report.

Lauren Hynicka, PharmD, BCPS (SOP) and Christopher D’Adamo, PhD (SOM) were awarded $15,000 for Development of an Interprofessional Culinary Health and Medicine Elective. The IPE project will bring together professional students from medicine, pharmacy, nursing, dentistry, and social work. It will provide comprehensive, evidence-based nutrition instruction followed by hands-on group cooking. The students will then eat what they have cooked together, allowing for the development of a greater appreciation across the disciplines. All culinary health and medicine sessions will include a practical focus on surmounting common barriers to healthy nutrition habit changes to enable better patient care. For instance, students will learn how to help their patients (and themselves) overcome barriers of limited time, financial resources, and taste barriers through strategies such as utilizing slow cookers, cooking in bulk, and replacing added sugar and sodium with flavorful spices and herbs. To round out the experience, students will have an opportunity to bring their nutrition knowledge into the West Baltimore community. Dr. D’Adamo has served as Principal Investigator on numerous published nutrition and cooking interventions in underserved Baltimore communities. This practical, hands on experience offered to the culinary health and medicine course will add to the breadth of patient care. To learn more, contact Dr. Hynicka at lhynicka@rx.umaryland.edu or Dr. Adamo at cdadamo@som.umaryland.edu.