ASU, UA students win Teamwork Technology Awards

Students from more than 15 colleges and departments at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona proposed new ways to use technology to teach teamwork and collaboration skills for students in health professions majors including nursing, medicine, pharmacy, and social work. 

Two awards of $2,000 each were offered at each university as part of a Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation initiative to develop a new interprofessional curriculum in primary care. Funds for the awards were provided by the ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovation and the UA Arizona Telemedicine Program in Tucson and its T-Health Institute in Phoenix.

Challenged to provide faculty with more effective ways to prepare health professions students to work together in clinical practice, students submitted entries that used a broad array of available technologies and social networks including smartphones, wikis, Facebook, and video games.

The ASU recipients of the Teamwork Technology Challenge Awards are:

• Andrea Martinez and Chelsey Heath from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication for their "Technology in Diabetes Life-style Classes" proposal.
• Benjamin Bishop from the College of Nursing and Health Innovation’s program in Regulatory Science and Health Safety for The Advanced Clinical Experience (ACE) Module proposal.

The award winners for the Teamwork Technology Challenge at UA are:

• Natasha Bhuyan, UA College of Medicine,  Laurel Cox, UA College of Medicine, Robert Portley, UA Eller College of Management and UA College of Medicine for their proposal: Combining Videoconferencing and Case-Based Learning in a Synchronous Environment.
• Tessa Hamilton, from UA’s College of Science, Department of Psychology for her proposal, The Social (Health care) Network: Increasing Patient-Practitioner Interaction Skills through the Use of Facebook.

Students indicated that they were motivated to apply for the Teamwork Technology Challenge to test their ability to work across professional boundaries. ASU Cronkite students Andrea Martinez and Chelsey Health said, “As journalism students, we often talk about merging our communication skills with our health care interests. It was great to diversify our skills and develop new ideas."

Winning applicants also were motivated to try out new ideas to improve education for future students. Ben Bishop, a University of Arizona PharmD student who just completed a master’s degree in Regulatory Science and Health Safety at the College of Nursing and Health Innovation said, “This was an ideal vehicle for me to tap into my creative side.  I think that my idea will enhance interprofessional education and the individual students’ experience.”

About ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovation

The College of Nursing and Health Innovation at ASU emphasizes innovative approaches to health and health care. Its academic programs, including the Ph.D. in Nursing and Health Innovation and the Master of Healthcare Innovation, are committed to advancing interprofessional practice and research.

It has 9565 alumni and its graduate program is ranked 21st or in the top 4 percent among colleges of nursing in the 2012 Best Graduate Schools published by U.S. News & World Report.

About UA Arizona Telemedicine Program

Established in 1996, the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) offers a variety of services and educational programs. ATP developed and operates a state-wide broadband telecommunication network extending to 55 healthcare organization at over 170 sites. More than 60 subspecialty clinical services have been provided over the network, with more than one million consultations. In addition to patient services, ATP provides over 200 continuing education (CME/CE) programs annually.  For more information about the Arizona Telemedicine Program visit www.telemedicine.arizona.edu.