Each year, the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education (C-IPE) recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions in advancing interprofessional education and practice with the Awards for IPE Innovation & Excellence.
For 2024, the award categories and criteria have been updated to better reflect and honor the work being done within our IPE community. These new award categories, one for IPE Innovation and one for IPE Excellence, allow us to celebrate creative new ideas alongside those with a deep record of impact.
This year’s recipients include two team honorees. The awards were presented at the University of Michigan Health Professions Education Day on April 2, 2024. They are:
Award for IPE Innovation: TEAMS
Members of this team are being recognized for their work in implementing the TEAMS activities into the clinical experience for undergraduate nursing students at the School of Nursing. Awardees include:
- Grace Kanzawa-Lee, clinical assistant professor, School of Nursing
- Sue Wintermeyer-Pingel, clinical assistant professor, School of Nursing
- Laura Prochnow, clinical assistant professor, School of Nursing
- Nicole Smith, clinical instructor, School of Nursing
- LaToya Brown, clinical assistant professor, School of Nursing
- Amy Buckenmeyer, clinical assistant professor, School of Nursing
- Michelle Pardee, clinical associate professor, School of Nursing
- Hannah Edwards, curriculum administrative specialist, C-IPE
TEAMS stands for Teams Engaging to Acquire Meaningful Skills and provide experiential learning opportunities for students in early, mid and advanced learning stages. The activities follow a scaffolding learning continuum consisting of three activities designed to introduce interprofessional experiences within the practice setting. The Center for IPE adapted the TEAMS activities from the Flexible Activities developed by the University of Toronto’s Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE).
Faculty working within the School of Nursing IPE workgroup decided to pilot the TEAMS activities among sophomore and junior B.S.N. students. They worked closely with Edwards to set up a Canvas site and with the C-IPE intentional measurement & research workgroup to idenfity evaluation tools.
The TEAMS activities allowed students to meet and learn about other professionals in the hospital, seeing the critical role interprofessional teams play in patient outcomes. Students also attended interprofessional team meetings to observe how teams work together to provide care and resources to their patients.
Data from the pilot showed positive findings for learning along with a strong appreciation for other professionals and professionals that nurses work closely with to provide care.
“Their commitment to interprofessional education (IPE) created the opportunity for our students to learn about other professions in the hospital and to observe how interprofessional teams function,” shared one supporter.
Award for IPE Excellence: MoveMore
Members of the MoveMore team are being recognized for creating a class that provides B.S.N. and D.P.T. students the opportunity to practice interprofessional collaborative care while assisting community members who have had a stroke to walk farther and faster. Awardees representing UM-Flint’s College of Health Sciences and UM-Flint’s School of Nursing include:
- Amy Yorke, professor, UM-Flint College of Health Sciences
- Rebecca James, student, UM-Flint College of Health Sciences
- Chelsie Smith, student, UM-Flint College of Health Sciences
- Luke Reed, student, UM-Flint College of Health Sciences
- Suzanne Trojanowski, clinical associate professor, UM-Flint College of Health Sciences
- Leslie Smith, clinical associate professor, UM-Flint College of Health Sciences
- Maureen Murphy, assistant professor, UM-Flint School of Nursing
- Megan Keiser, professor, UM-Flint School of Nursing
- Abigail Davis, lecturer I, UM-Flint School of Nursing
UM-Flint’s College of Health Sciences offers a collection of pro-bono health services through a community program called Health Equity Action Research and Teaching (HEART). HEART offers a High Intensity Gait Training class called MoveMore for people who have chronic effects due to stroke.
MoveMore began as a pilot in spring 2022 and has since been offered for six consecutive semesters. Teams of 3-5 students from D.P.T. and B.S.N. programs work together over the course of a semester to develop interprofessional relationships while providing continuity of care to their community partners. Since the MoveMore pilot, approximately 60 B.S.N. students, 80 D.P.T. students and 18 community partners have participated. The MoveMore team has observed improvements in their community partners walking abilities, but also in the collaborative behaviors (e.g. communication) demonstrated by the students.
A student who participated in the course shared, “Collaboration and communication skills learned at MoveMore were invaluable to me during my first full-time clinical rotation. Interprofessional collaboration is vital and focuses on the importance of effective teamwork. MoveMore stands as an innovative example of excellence in interprofessional education, committed to advancing the future of health care.”
The awards were presented by Rajesh Mangrulkar, M.D., director of the Center for Interprofessional Education.
“This year’s awardees are wonderful examples of the work happening across U-M to shape the future of health and health care,” he said, “especially with both focusing on experiential education, which is the most challenging of all of our work.”
“Thank you for your outstanding work and contributions to advancing IPE for our students, our community partners and for systems that improve health.”