American healthcare is increasingly expensive and inefficient, making it ripe for innovation. Despite the interprofessional nature of healthcare, professional training in each field is mainly independent of other professions. Moreover, our current UTHealth curricula lack the opportunity for students from all six schools (medical, nursing, dentistry, biomedical science, biomedical informatics, and public health) to collaborate over an extended period. To bridge this gap, we created the Healthcare Innovation Challenge (HIC).
HIC is a student-founded and student-led annual competition that introduces interprofessional teams of health science students to the various challenges characterizing U.S. healthcare. In 2020, fifty-one students were divided into nine teams, given a broad healthcare case, and asked to design innovative solutions over three weeks. The collaborative culminated on the day of the challenge when teams competed for monetary prizes by pitching their solutions to a panel of interprofessional judges who evaluated solutions based on innovation, effectiveness, and practicality.
The competition encouraged students to assess the current state of healthcare and decide what area(s) to address. Teams proposed various innovative solutions with multidimensional approaches; however, many struggled with the business aspect.
Overall, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. In post-event surveys, 63% of participants felt they expanded their interprofessional network, while 60% reported gaining a deeper understanding of the U.S. healthcare system and the requirements to increase its value. Over 80% felt HIC was a valuable experience contributing to their educational interests. Common obstacles to collaboration included disorganization within teams and poor communication, leading two teams and 21 individuals to withdraw before the event.
We will incorporate these findings to achieve our overarching goal of creating a replicable model to empower emerging healthcare professionals in institutions across the nation with collaborative and ethical tools for generating innovative healthcare solutions.
In support of improving patient care, this activity is planned and implemented by The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education Office of Interprofessional Continuing Professional Development (OICPD). The OICPD is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
As a Jointly Accredited Provider, the OICPD is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The OICPD maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive continuing education credits.
This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change.
Physicians: The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education designates this live activity for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.
Physician Assistants: The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME.
Nurses: Participants will be awarded contact hours of credit for attendance at this workshop.
Nurse Practitioners: The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME and ANCC.
Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians: This activity is approved for contact hours.
Social Workers: As a Jointly Accredited Organization, the National Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The National Center maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive continuing education credits.
IPCE: This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits for learning and change
