News Releases

UMB Center for Interprofessional Education Awards Seed Grants

May 22, 2014

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has placed a high priority on interprofessional education (IPE) and its importance is recognized in the University's 2011-2016 Strategic Plan. To encourage faculty members from multiple schools to work together for this purpose, the UMB Center for Interprofessional Education has awarded seed grants to interdisciplinary teams whose 13-month pilot projects will be carried out by June 2015.

The selection of the six grantees was based on an evaluation of proposals that met criteria in one of two categories for collaborative work:

• Interprofessional team-based care: Care delivered by intentionally created, usually relatively small work groups in health care, who are recognized by others as well as by themselves as having a collective identity and shared responsibility for a patient or group of patients.
• Interprofessional education: "When students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes" (World Health Organization, 2010).

Jane Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing (SON) and director of the center, shown in the photo above, speaks on behalf of its leaders in congratulating the winners. The IPE center's co-directors are Heather Congdon, PharmD, BCPS, CDE, assistant dean, School of Pharmacy (SOP) at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG); David Mallott, MD, associate dean, medical education, School of Medicine (SOM); and Edward Pecukonis, MSW, PhD, associate professor, School of Social Work (SSW).

Teams consisting of faculty from two or more disciplines were required to propose projects that will be practice or classroom focused, with educational and evaluative components employing the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. sponsored by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative. The grant recipients are:

Philip Dittmar, MD, and Norman Retener, MD, both of the SOM, $10,000. Other faculty participating are Sandeep Devabhakthuni, PharmD, BCPS; and Jeffrey Gonzales, PharmD, BCPS, FCCM, both of the SOP; Sai-Ho Jason Chui, PharmD, BCPS, of the University of Maryland Medical Center, Pharmacy; and Mary Fey, MS, RN, of the SON. The proposal, "Rapid Response:ý An Interprofessional Approach," will allow nursing, pharmacy and medical students to collaboratively manage a simulated patient (high fidelity mannequin) through a series of enhanced acute-care scenarios.

Rebecca Wiseman, PhD, RN, of the SON, $9,000. Faculty participants include the SOPýs Congdon and Mary Lang, MBA, both of USG; Joan Pittman, PhD, MSW, LCSW-C, of the SSW; and two faculty members from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Diane Alonso, PhD, of UMBC's Department of Psychology and Katherine Morris, LCSW-C, of UMBC's School of Social Work.ý The proposal, "Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services Interprofessional Summer Internship," will bring together students for an eight-week period from two academic institutions, UMB and UMBC. Representing the four disciplines of nursing, social work, pharmacy, and psychology, the students will observe interdisciplinary teamwork within the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.

Kerri Thom, MD, MS, of the SOM, $9,000. Participating faculty members are Alison Duffy, PharmD, BCOP, and Emily Heil, PharmD, BCPS, both of the SOP; Meg Johantgen, PhD, RN, of the SON; and Daniel Morgan, MD, MS, of the SOM and the VA Maryland Health Care System. The proposal, "Interprofessional Approach to Teaching Patient Safety and Quality Improvement at the Point of Care," will develop an opportunity for students of multiple disciplines to learn to identity potential patient safety and quality improvement issues in the setting of the medical intensive care unit at UMMC.

Sandra Quezada, MD, MS, of the SOM, $8,000. Faculty participants include Jody Olsen, PhD, MSW; of the SSW, Bonnie Bissonette, MA, of the UMB Student Center for Global Education, and Amy Ramirez, MA, of the UMB Office of International Scholar and Student Services. The proposal, "Spanish for Health Professions Providers," is a new initiative that builds on the framework of an existing SOM with the objective of expanding access to Spanish education to students at all UMB professional schools.

Sarah Edwards, DO, of the SOM, $6,000. Faculty members include Sean Pustilnik, MD, of the SOM, Susan dosReis, PhD, of the SOP, and three participants with UMMC affiliations: Shari Simone, DNP, CPNP-AC, FCCM, of the SON; Allison Lardieri, PharmD, of the SOP; and Linda Kyle Walker, MD, FCCM, of the SOM. The proposal, "The Pediatric TEAM (Training, Education, Assessment and Management of Delirium) Program," will help medical, nursing and pharmacy students learn collaborative care of children who are predisposed to and/or experiencing delirium in critical care settings.

Shannon Idzik, DNP, CRNP, of the SON, $5,000. Faculty participants include Jackie Fried, RDH, MS, and David Williams, DDS, MS, MPH, both of the School of Dentistry (SOD); and Jane Kapustin, PhD, CRNP, of the SON. The proposal, "Use of Simulation to Augment Interprofessional Learning in the Emergency Department," will bring together dental, dental hygiene and nurse practitioner students in a clinical simulation focused on oral health of patients who present with non-life threatening dental complaints in hospital emergency departments.

Contact Name: Patricia Fanning
Contact Phone: 410-706-7946
Contact Email: pfanning@son.umaryland.edu