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Faculty institute promotes team building
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by Cindy Abole
Public Relations
Assembling the skills and tools faculty need to promote team building
and active learning is a priority as the campus continues to develop an
interprofessional environment.
 Members of the 2009 Interprofessional Faculty Institute at the Feb. 20 meeting.
On Feb. 20, 19 interdisciplinary faculty members gathered at the
College of Health Professions to attend the first of six sessions of
the Creating Collaborative Care (C3) Interprofessional Education (IPE)
Faculty Institute. These sessions were established to help train and
prepare faculty in teaching and assessing interprofessional education
and advanced team building skills.
In 2007, MUSC won reaccreditation with the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools in an intense, two-year self-study process. As a
result, the institution introduced the C3 initiative as its Quality
Enhancement Plan for improving education and enhancing student learning
during the next decade. Two years and several successful initiatives
later, the program has progressed to preparing faculty in the
development of interprofessional health care teams by teaching
communications skills, developing strategies and training.
The whole effort has been a year in planning, according to Mary
Mauldin, Ed.D., associate professor and director for the Center for
Academic and Research Computing and leader of the C3 Faculty
Development domain. It is one of four domain teams responsible for
advancing training and education of faculty and students with the
interprofessional experience. The institute’s curriculum was developed
by Joe John, M.D., Department of Medicine; Elizabeth S. Pilcher, DMD,
College of Dental Medicine; Samar Hammad, Ph.D., Department of Cell
Biology and Anatomy; and Carol J. McDougall, R.N., College of Nursing.
Interested faculty applied to the program beginning in fall 2008 and,
following acceptance into the institute, participated in one-on-one
interviews about their personal goals for participation.
During the first session, participants were introduced to
interprofessional education basics, reviewed literature and other
related readings, discussed program goals and practiced team building
exercises and activities.
Mulugeta Gebregziabher, Ph.D., has been an assistant professor of
biostatistics, bioinformatics and epidemiology since July 2006 and a
participant in the IPE institute. He was purposely seeking more
training opportunities for leadership and team building skills.
“As a statistician, I’m used to working with teams of people both
across campus and beyond the university. I have some career
opportunities that will allow me to demonstrate leadership within my
own team with other researchers and I wanted to advance my skills,” he
said.
Gebregziabher learned about the IPE institute and quickly applied. He enjoyed February’s premiere session.
“The first session had skills and elements I was seeking that I can use
as a collaborative researcher as well as share this knowledge with
students,” he said.
In evaluating the success of their participation with the institute, most applicants offered positive responses.
“I hope to have an opportunity to meet faculty outside of my own
discipline and see a core group of fellows develop something to the
point that its impact and effect can be measured and that students will
say, ‘I was part of this effort and it made me feel comfortable working
in an interprofessional team,’” said Jean Nappi, PharmD, professor in
the South Carolina College of Pharmacy (SCCOP).
Thierry Bacro, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Cell
Biology and Anatomy, hopes that any new ideas learned from the
institute will help him become more involved with interprofessional
efforts across campus.
As for the remaining four months, institute faculty will discuss
specifics about interprofessional education, refine their team building
skills, analyze the importance of interprofessional health care teams,
plus create and apply new skills and knowledge toward a practical
interprofessional service project.
New SCCOP faculty member Kristy Brittain, PharmD, also praised the
experience. Brittain served as a facilitator for both first - and
second-year MUSC student during the Jan. 23 Interprofessional Day
activity on campus.
“I really enjoyed the IPE session and learned more than I had expected
to,” said Brittain, who praised the collaborative role of community
pharmacists and other health care professionals. “I’m interested in
teaching others and helping them learn about the value of
interprofessional learning. I don’t think we spend enough time
dissecting the value of teams and each of the member’s roles.”
Brittain hopes to translate her experiences and skills learned from the
institute to establish in fall 2009 a new diabetes elective, which
possess interprofessional elements. She’s also hoping to meet and
identify other faculty clinicians and researchers who can collaborate
with her on this project.
“I’m excited to be part of this. I look forward to seeing what else is planned for this program,” Brittain said.
The program also will provide opportunities for networking, sharing,
learning and other changes as needed, according to Mauldin. She and
other C3 institute coordinators hope that matriculating faculty may
want to come back and share their new knowledge by teaching and leading
future sessions as the institute establishes an active
interprofessional learning environment.
2009 Interprofessional Faculty Institute
Theirry Bacro, Medicine/Dental Medicine; Carla Bistrick, Health
Professions; Ramita Bonadonna, MUHA Clinical Services; Kristy Brittain,
Pharmacy; Laurie Charles, Student Diversity; Brenda Flanigan-Tyson,
Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center; Mulugeta Gebregziabher,
Medicine-Biostatistics; Timothy Givens, Medicine; Cynthia Hudson,
Nursing; Stephen Kinsman, Medicine; Peter Miller, Medicine/Dental
Medicine; Jean Nappi, Pharmacy; Tamatha Psenka, Medicine; Kelly
Ragucci, Pharmacy; Shakaib Rehman, Medicine; Tony Shackelford, Health
Professions; Wanda Gonsalves, Medicine; Sarah Shrader, Pharmacy and Amy
Thompson, Pharmacy.
Friday, March 13, 2009
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