From Different Fields, Students Learn to Work as Team

The patient, named Geri,  was a 48-year-old oral cancer victim, referred by her dentist. She taught English at a local college and had two children, including a teen with Down's syndrome.

Details about the fictitious patient were shared at an RSDM-hosted seminar on interproffessional patient care, where students from the dental school and several other schools at Rutgers discussed how they could work together individually and as a team to treat Geri.

Students from New Jersey Medical School,  School of Social Work, the School of Health Related Professions, the School of Nursing, and others, brainstormed various kinds support the patient might need, including nutritional counseling during chemotherapy, mental health counseling and advice on potential issues that could arise with establishing guardianship of Geri's teen daughter.  Dental school students mentioned oral healthcare before and during radiation therapy, which can often cause side severe side effects in the mouth and jaw.

The result gave students a better understanding of provider roles and how each could work together.

According to Denise Rodgers, vice chancellor for Interprofessional Programs at Rutgers University - ‎Rutgers Biomedical and Health Science (RBHS), such training is a key component in preparing the next generation of healthcare providers. And RBHS  is fertile ground for such lessons. "The range of health profession students trained here... provides students from a wide range of disciplines the chance to learn from and with each other,'' she stated. "Students are trained to work as members of highly functional collaborative teams in a variety of settings including small and large case-based sessions, student-run clinics, community based clinics and in simulated case-based learning."