UW Interprofessional Education Workshop Looks at Opioid Patient Care

The University of Wyoming’s College of Health Sciences recently hosted its annual Interprofessional Education Forum in the Wyoming Union, including students from the Wyoming WWAMI Medical Education Program, the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing, the UW Division of Social Work and the UW School of Pharmacy.

The event, officially titled “Opioid Workshop: An Interprofessional Learning Experience,” had as its goal to create a dynamic workshop on opioid use, pain management and collaborative care. This interactive event brought together about 75 students and faculty members from multiple health professional disciplines to explore the complexities of opioid use disorder and the importance of interprofessional teamwork in the care of patients.

Dr. Kaylin Llie, a physician specializing in family medicine at UCHealth Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation and keynote speaker for the workshop, talked with students about opioid-related care, prevention and treatment, and how their future health professions would interact with opioid care, both singularly and across disciplines.

A highlight of the day included a panel discussion in which presenters took questions from students about real-life experiences the panelists -- all local and regional healthcare professionals -- had in providing opioid-related care.

The panel featured Bree Gray, an emergency department pharmacist at Banner Wyoming Medical Center in Casper; Dr. Tom Radosevich, a family physician and director of Wyoming Recovery in Casper; Jordan Dyett, an assistant professor within the UW Division of Social Work; Dr. Todd Guth, an emergency physician and director of Wyoming WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) Medical Education; and Nancy Halsey, a family nurse practitioner at Albany Community Health Clinic.

Student questions for the panel ranged from what successful management and treatment of opioid patient care looks like to what steps are taken by healthcare providers if a return to opioid use outside of normal treatment becomes evident.

“As a social work researcher, clinician and educator, it was an honor to represent social work’s role in interdisciplinary responses to the opioid crisis,” Dyett says. “In addition, the entire junior cohort of bachelor-level social work students was able to attend the event. Seeing the next generation of professionals inspired by these high-level dialogues reinforces the importance of interprofessional education and ongoing discussion about substance use in our communities.”

“A key takeaway from the workshop is the opportunity for health professions students to begin to understand the other students’ roles and responsibilities in clinical settings,” Guth says. “It’s also great to hear directly from the other health professions students about the training and what got them to this point in their education.”

The opioid workshop concluded with participants interacting with other health professional students in small working groups on patient scenario problem-solving. A main focus was how students from each healthcare profession would, at some point, engage with a different profession with the goal of achieving optimal patient care.

“It gave me a really good mock trial of how it might be when you are placed in a group of people with different career backgrounds; I really liked that,” says Maria Iroz, a social work student from Cheyenne. “It helped to see how the different careers work in a broader setting and how this can help create change for individual clients.”

“This event was helpful and very informative. The lecturer and panelists were all experts in treating opioid use disorders, and I learned a lot. It also was great to be able to discuss with other students for the interdisciplinary perspectives,” says Mia McCabe a third-year psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner student from Laramie.

 

“I very much appreciated the event, and what I found the most interesting and helpful were the insights from the panel and comments and questions from the audience,” says Mechelle Rivera, another third-year psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner student from Deaver.

“This event reflects our commitment to preparing students to work collaboratively across disciplines to address complex healthcare issues like opioid use and substance use disorders,” says Patrick Hardigan, dean of the College of Health Sciences. “Experiences like this foster mutual respect, shared knowledge and team-based problem-solving -- skills that are critical to delivering high-quality, patient-centered care. I want to sincerely thank the Interprofessional Education Forum Committee and participating faculty for their leadership in creating such a meaningful and impactful learning opportunity.”

Students who participated, listed by hometown, are:

Third-year family nurse practitioner students

Casper -- Lauren Menter.

Denver, Colo. -- Allyson Medor.

Evanston -- Steve Aragon.

Gillette -- Christina Rozier.

Jackson -- Julia Bloom.

Lander -- Jayson Simpson.

Riverton -- Ella Erickson.

Saratoga -- Chanel Thrasher.

Steamboat Springs, Colo. -- Joanna Farrell.

Third-year psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner students

Abilene, Texas -- Sheri Scott.

Casper -- Sara Keate, Samantha Skogen and Gabrielle Reimann.

Deaver -- Mechelle Rivera.

Denver, Colo. -- Samuel Garcia.

Laramie -- Maia McCabe and Caitlin McNair.

Riverton -- Robbalee Olson.

St. Louis, Mo. -- Paul Plohr.

Wyoming WWAMI Medical Education Program students

Cheyenne -- Erica Farris, Samantha Johnson, Winston Littlejohn, Brooklyn Prince and Daniel Shumway.

Gillette -- Dalton Nichols.

Evanston -- Linsey Lancaster.

Jackson -- Elizabeth Girling, Annable Hagen and Rachale Harrower.

Kemmerer -- Alexis King.

Moorcroft -- Cherol Minton.

Powell -- Jordan Moore.

Rawlins -- Easton Couch.

Rock Springs -- Ali Lange.

Sheridan -- Logan Jensen, Margaret Kuehl and Zoe Robison.

Wheatland -- Carlos Garcia.

Pharmacy students

Broomfield, Colo. -- Pierce Bernard.

Brush, Colo. -- Daylie Fuller.

Casper -- Savannah Barkhoff.

Cheyenne -- William Manker, Brynn McKenna and Trevor Stephen.

Cowley -- Trace Moss.

Evanston -- Quetzalli Penaloza Orozco.

Fairfax, Va. -- Daisy Grado.

Fountain Vally, Calf. -- Sage Grimmell-Roewer.

Greeley, Colo. -- Miranda Hanks.

Laramie -- Michael Kleiber, Kate McCune, Nick Montano, Anna Nevshemal, Kalli Pierantoni, Elicia Sanchez, Finnegan Stubson and Gannon Thompson.

Meriden -- Hunter Petsch.

Moorcroft -- James Croff.

Nashville, Colo. -- Jill Goldstein.

Torrington -- Kameron Stitt.

Wheatland -- Ethan Gustin.

Windsor, Colo. -- Bailey McAlister.

Social work students

Casper -- Jasmine Watson.

Cheyenne -- Maria Iroz and Cody Zimmerman.

Gillette -- Marlee Fager.

Jackson -- Ashley Hernandez-Lopez.

Laramie -- Abby Kersey and Samantha Kitchen.

Riverton -- McKenzie Dykman.

Rock Springs -- Delaney Mei Hua Lew.

Sheridan -- Joseph Bybee.

Worland -- Brittany Deniz.