Saint Louis University & University of Minnesota Student & Faculty Partner for Interprofessional Geriatric Case Competition
11/24/2020
Saint Louis University students and faculty mentors recently collaborated on a geriatric-based case competition that focused on development of a care plan for an older patient with multiple, chronic health challenges, including COVID-19.
The Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gateway Workforce Enhancement Program at Saint Louis University held its 6th Annual ‘Interprofessional Geriatric Case Competition’ in early November and for the first time, this year’s competition culminated in a inter-university collaboration with the Minnesota Northstar Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) at the University of Minnesota where finalists from each university met to compete against each other.
Students and faculty from a myriad of programs at SLU were recruited to participate in the month-long, interprofessional case competition prior to the November 9th inter-GWEP competition against the University of Minnesota.
“As the next generation of health and social service providers, our hope for the annual Interprofessional Geriatric Case Competition is that students will gain experience in working as part of an interprofessional team caring for older adults that they will take that into their future practice,” said Marla Berg-Weger, Ph.D., LCSW, professor in the School of Social Work & Executive Director of the Geriatric Education Center.
The first two rounds of the SLU competition featured 50 students, broken into 26 teams made up of undergraduate and graduate students from medicine, nursing (BSN, DNP), occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, pharmacy, dentistry, public health, medical family therapy, speech language hearing sciences, and communication sciences and disorders. This year's competition drew 17 Masters of Social Work students. The winning SLU team advanced to compete against the winners from the University of Minnesota's Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program.
The students then created an innovative 20-minute pre-recorded electronic case presentation while teams of interprofessional faculty served as judges for the presentations.
The team from SLU that advanced to compete against the University of Minnesota included Alake Brown (Social Work), Erin Dewberry (Social Work), Andrea Weile (Social Work), John Hartman (School of Medicine) and Sydney Rosenthal (School of Medicine).
“Participating in the Geriatric Case Competition this fall was a very rewarding experience. As a future social worker interested in the field of geriatric social work, the competition was a great opportunity to engage with and develop an intervention in relation to challenges many older adults face in our society,” Dewberry said. “The competition also greatly benefitted my professional education by working in an interdisciplinary team with SLU M.D. students to utilize knowledge from our respective disciplines to address the case presented to us and formulate an effective care plan.”
The SLU team was coached by Susan Elliot, ANP, Division of Geriatric Medicine. As winners of the semi-final rounds, the team received cash prizes.
Watch the Saint Louis University’s presentation.
Watch the winning presentation from the University of Minnesota.
College for Public Health and Social Justice
The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities. It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.
Guided by a mission of social justice and focused on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the College offers nationally recognized programs in public health, social work, health administration, applied behavior analysis, criminology and criminal justice.