WSSU School of Health Sciences and WFUSM Dept. of PA Students collaborate through Northwest AHEC on inter-institutional, interprofessional program which simulate management of patient care while integrating EHR Go software.
Winston-Salem State University’s (WSSU) School of Health Sciences and Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM) Department of PA Studies began a collaboration through Northwest AHEC to pilot a new inter-institutional, interprofessional program in 2021. The WSSU-WFSM IPE Series focuses on enhancing existing curricula by adding EHR Go software to the educational experience at both institutions. The partnership secured access to the case based, Electronic Medical Record learning software for students. Using EHR Go, student teams and faculty can preview a patient case in a simulated medical chart reflecting notes from various health professionals.
The collaboration involves the integration of the use of the EHR Go software into the curricula as well as an event that brings multiple student discipline groups together to review and discuss a simulated patient case. The event focuses on giving students the ability to collaborate as an interprofessional team in the management of a simulated patient’s care as well as integrating the use of the electronic medical record learning software.
For the 2022 event, approximately 250 students from various disciplines collaborated on a simulated patient case including: WSSU Occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, healthcare management, therapeutic recreation, rehabilitation counseling/services, social work, and clinical laboratory science, and WFSM PA studies. One of the students commented "I really like the EHRgo platform as it felt quite realistic. I'd love the chance to navigate through more cases on EHRgo in preparation for clinical year, but I know I will get a lot of practice with it throughout rotations!”
For the 2022 event, a graduate assistant from the Winston-Salem State University Occupational Therapy Graduate program was also utilized. She was a great addition to the planning committee, and it allowed her to gain experience in the program planning and connect with various discipline faculty.
“I had an amazing time being the student representative on the planning committee for the IPE event this year! I got to work with faculty in many disciplines that I otherwise would not have ever met and offer my perspective of what students want to learn and do! I enjoyed hearing what went well and what could have gone better in last year's event and help offer solutions to make this one better! My left-brained self enjoyed creating lists and collecting information and my right-brained self-loved making new power point presentations that hopefully made the process easier for everyone involved! I was honored to have been chosen to be a part of the team and I thank everyone for the opportunity.”
-Alison Presley, WSSU Student
Currently, post-event evaluations are being reviewed and we are hoping to gain knowledge on what went well as well as what can be improved upon. We are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this initiative and how we can further utilize this resource into the curriculums of the interprofessional disciplines. This interprofessional effort has helped and will continue to help teach students how to effectively collaborate with a multidisciplinary approach and improve health outcomes.
