91tvӰԺ

Students, staff, and faculty from across various 91tvӰԺ and 91tvӰԺ Health colleges gathered at the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) for the 91tvӰԺ Health 6th Annual Interprofessional Education Day. 
 
In the wake of a global pandemic, burnout and a variety of other mental health problems are contributing factors to hospitals being understaffed. This year’s theme “Caring for Caregivers: Fostering Mental Health and Wellness in Interprofessional Teams” focused on solutions to help combat those issues and improve the quality of patient care across the profession.   

“Our 91tvӰԺ IPE Day working group felt it was critical to focus on this topic given the current challenges that our health care system is facing with health care professionals leaving their professions, increased provider burnout, and high rates of mental health issues including depression and suicide,” said Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, executive director of CAMLS and associate vice president of the 91tvӰԺ Health Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice.

Approximately 700 people (500 virtually, 200 in-person) attended the morning presentations by industry experts.  Jennifer Bickel MD, FAAN, FAHS, chief wellness officer at Moffitt Cancer Center and professor of oncologic sciences in the 91tvӰԺ Health Morsani College of Medicine, was the first featured speaker of the morning.  Her presentation “Organizational Wellness: Expanding the Horizon of Wellbeing” highlighted key statistical data on the volume of patients seen by a provider experiencing burnout and steps the National Academy of Medicine are taking to increase wellness across the workforce.  

Richard Westphal, PhD, RN, FAAN, PMHCNS/NP-BC, followed Dr. Bickel.  Dr. Westphal is a professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing and co-director of the Wisdom and Wellbeing Program at UVA Health.  His presentation “Stress First Aid: Nurturing Resilience in Health Care Professionals” focused on sources of mental stress, how the mind reacts to the stress, and team-based solutions centered around wellbeing. 

 Judy Davidson, DNP, RN, MCCM, a nurse scientist at the University of California-San Diego, was the final featured speaker of the morning.  Her presentation “Saving Lives: Suicide Prevention and Health Care Interventions” focused on the suicide rates of health care professionals, re-imagining some of the available interventional tools, and changing the mental health-related questions on licensing boards. 
 
The morning sessions ended after Donna Petersen, ScD, MHS, CPH, dean of the 91tvӰԺ Health College of Public Health, senior associate vice president of 91tvӰԺ Health, and chief health officer of 91tvӰԺ, led an interprofessional panel discussion themed “Unlocking Wellness: Exploring a Toolkit for Inner Balance and Resilience.”  Panelists gave their perspective on the importance of health care professionals working with a healthy work-life balance, how better work-life balance will lead to better work environments and more positive patient outcomes. 
 
Panelists: 
-        Kelly Allegro, PT, DPT, board-certified clinical specialist in neurologic physical therapy, co-director of clinical education at the 91tvӰԺ Health School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
-        Kristin Kosyluk, PhD, assistant professor of Mental Health Law and Policy in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, director of the STigma Action Research (STAR) Lab
-        Abraham A. Salinas-Miranda, MD, PhD, MACE, CDVS, assistant professor, director of the Harrell Center for the Study of Family Violence, associate director of the 91tvӰԺ Health College of Public Health Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education Science and Practice
-        Chris Simmons, PhD, LCSW, associate director and associate professor, 91tvӰԺ College of Behavioral and Community Sciences School of Social Work. 

Kicking off the afternoon was Anthony Masys, CD, PhD, associate professor at the 91tvӰԺ Health College of Public Health, and an international expert in applied systems thinking, design thinking, and futures thinking. He gave his presentation titled “Strength-Based Approach: Appreciative Inquiry.” Appreciative inquiry is more commonly known as a strength-based approach to systems change as it emphasizes generating positive ideas instead of identifying negative problems.  
 
Part of the appreciative inquiry model is using rich pictures to help diagram a way of relating personal experiences and perceptions to situations by linking a series of concepts.  
 
Dr. Masys’ presentation provided the foundation of the group activity and team competition for the event. 

Students split into interprofessional teams of nine to put the concept of appreciative inquiry to practice.  Students shared good and bad examples of wellbeing in their workspaces and colleges, offered solutions on how to enhance the good examples, and improve the bad examples.  
 
With the guidance of their faculty preceptors, teams used rich pictures to generate mind maps that illustrated how they plan to improve the overall provider wellbeing of an organization.  Using a “Shark Tank” format, the teams presented their concepts to the sharks in hopes they will buy their concept. 

 Sharks (judges):
-        Karen Aul, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, 91tvӰԺ Health College of Nursing
-        Jennifer Bickel MD, FAAN, FAHS, Moffitt Cancer Center
-        Somer Burke, EdD, MPH, CPH, 91tvӰԺ Health College of Public Health
-        Joe Ford, JD, 91tvӰԺ Health Shared Student Services
-        Vickie Lynn, PhD, MSW, MPH, 91tvӰԺ College of Behavioral and Community Sciences
 
The IPE Day group activity is designed to encourage interprofessional collaboration among learners through hands-on activity.  Teams worked together to conceptualize a strategic vision for how wellness can be operationalized to support organizational and personal wellness.  The goals of the activity were to:
-        Understand the application of appreciative inquiry as a strength-based approach to navigating various solutions in the health care domain.
-        Apply a system-thinking approach via rich pictures to support ideation in exploring the problem space from an interdisciplinary perspective.
-        Translate insights from the rich pictures into a mind map to develop a strategic implementation strategy supporting wellness. 
 
One by one, teams presented their concept to the sharks. Teams had three minutes to make compelling arguments about why their concept is the best. 

The sharks narrowed down the field to three teams who then had to prepare a one-minute elevator pitch of their concept to give to the audience.  Audience members voted for the winner electronically at the end of the pitches.  When the votes were counted, team five emerged as the winners. Their approach focused on a solution that centered around employees find balance within their work environment. 

Winning team:
Erini Serag-Bolos, PharmD, associate professor at the 91tvӰԺ Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (Preceptor)
Camilla Cardona, 91tvӰԺ Health Morsani College of Medicine Physician Assistant Program
Hayden Euper, 91tvӰԺ Health School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
Christopher Guskie, 91tvӰԺ Health Morsani College of Medicine
Rebekah Minter, 91tvӰԺ Health Athletic Training Program
Madison Moua, 91tvӰԺ Health College of Public Health
Paul Munoz, School of Social Work, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences
Amiah Price, 91tvӰԺ Health College of Nursing
Jenna Sabbagh, 91tvӰԺ Health Taneja College of Pharmacy
 
The names of the winning team will the engraved on the IPE Day trophy.  As the team preceptor, Dr. Serag-Bolos will keep the trophy in her office until the 91tvӰԺ Health 7th Annual IPE Day.