Congratulations to Steven Erickson and team for winning the Faculty/Staff Award for IPE Innovation and Excellence
U-M CDHW member Steven Erickson, PharmD and the Health and Disabilities Team team for winning the Faculty/Staff Award IPE Innovation and Excellence Award for their interprofessional education course on disability and Health!
Note: The following text and photo was originally published on the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education's blog.
Members of this team designed and created a remarkable set of innovative, experiential and authentic interprofessional (IP) activities within the elective course Health and Disabilities. Awardees include Jillian Woodworth (College of Health Sciences, UM-Flint), Laura Smith (College of Health Sciences, UM-Flint), Jeanne Andreoli (Center for Research on Learning & Teaching) and Steven Erickson (College of Pharmacy).
The goal of this class was to contribute to the creation of an IP healthcare workforce capable of providing a person centered approach to patients with disabilities in an effort to improve quality of care and reduce disparities in health outcomes. 72 students (41 from pharmacy, public health, nursing, bioinformatics at UM-Ann Arbor; 31 from occupational therapy and physical therapy at UM-Flint) worked with 21 community partners over the course of six weeks. Students focused on enhancing their IP communication skills, increasing awareness of disability-related issues and understanding social determinants that influence the health outcomes of people with disabilities.
“This course is extremely valuable to the education of future health care professionals,” shared one nominator. “It provides opportunities for students to learn of the experiences persons with disabilities have with the health care system and health care professionals. It also provides an opportunity for students to understand day to day life of persons with disabilities. What is exciting is the blending of professions in the student groups, which allows students to also learn about other health professions. It intentionally supports people – including patients, families and communities – to learn together to enhance collaboration.”
About the Awards for IPE Innovation & Excellence
For the fifth year, the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education (C-IPE) recognized those who have made outstanding contributions in advancing interprofessional education and practice with the Awards for IPE Innovation & Excellence.
The awards were established to recognize and celebrate demonstrated excellence in teaching, scholarship or leadership in the areas of interprofessional education (IPE) or interprofessional practice (IPP) across the University of Michigan health science schools. This year’s recipients included both an individual and team honoree, and awards were presented at the University of Michigan Health Professions Education Day on April 4, 2023.