Team CHIC – Collaborative Health, Interprofessional Care

Team members are from medicine, dentistry, pharmacy. Faculty advisors were Drs. Chris Peters and Chastity Shelton. The students met with some seniors in the community and obtained information from MIFA to identify their focus. Ultimately, they decided to focus on the social determinants of health. The project’s purpose is to provide a broad foundation in healthcare education and to increase medical literacy and provide a forum for discussion. A goal is to have the MIFA senior companions share the knowledge they gain with their clients. A variety of class topics were identified. The plan is to have each college at UTHSC involved, with each college taking the lead on 2 classes.

The students conducted a brief “class” – including a pretest, brief session on nutrition, and a posttest. The team had a focus on a “win-win” with MIFA senior companions learning more to improve their health, as well as learning content to help improve the health of their clients!

The judges discussed the importance of the social aspect of the team’s proposal and noted that the team’s presentation showed their sensitivity to the senior companions. “It’s not about winning … it’s about making a positive change.”