Students, staff and faculty from across the various University of South Florida and USF Health colleges gathered at the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) for the USF Health 6th Annual Interprofessional Education Day. 

In the wake of a global pandemic, burnout and a variety of other mental health problems are contributing factors to hospitals being understaffed. This year’s theme “Caring for Caregivers: Fostering Mental Health and Wellness in Interprofessional Teams” focused on solutions to help combat those issues and improve the quality of patient care across the profession.   

“Our USF IPE Day working group felt it was critical to focus on this topic given the current challenges that our health care system is facing with health care professionals leaving their professions, increased provider burnout and high rates of mental health issues, including depression and suicide,” said Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, executive director of CAMLS and associate vice president of the USF Health Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice.

Approximately 700 people (500 virtually, 200 in person) attended the morning presentations by industry experts.  Jennifer Bickel, MD, FAAN, FAHS, chief wellness officer at Moffitt Cancer Center and professor of oncologic sciences in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, was the first featured speaker of the morning. Her presentation “Organizational Wellness: Expanding the Horizon of Well-being” highlighted key statistical data on the volume of patients seen by a provider experiencing burnout and steps the National Academy of Medicine is taking to increase wellness across the workforce.  

Richard Westphal, PhD, RN, FAAN, PMHCNS/NP-BC, followed Dr. Bickel.  Dr. Westphal is a professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing and co-director of the Wisdom and Wellbeing Program at UVA Health.  His presentation “Stress First Aid: Nurturing Resilience in Health Care Professionals” focused on sources of mental stress, how the mind reacts to the stress and team-based solutions centered around well-being. 

Judy Davidson, DNP, RN, MCCM, a nurse scientist at the University of California-San Diego, was the final featured speaker of the morning. Her presentation “Saving Lives: Suicide Prevention and Health Care Interventions” focused on the suicide rates of health care professionals, re-imagining some of the available interventional tools and changing the mental health-related questions on licensing boards. 
 
The morning sessions ended after Donna Petersen, ScD, MHS, CPH, dean of the USF Health College of Public Health, senior associate vice president of USF Health and chief health officer of USF, led an interprofessional panel discussion themed “Unlocking Wellness: Exploring a Toolkit for Inner Balance and Resilience.”  Panelists gave their perspectives on the importance of health care professionals working with a healthy work-life balance and how a better work-life balance will lead to better work environments and more positive patient outcomes. 
 
Panelists: 
–        Kelly Allegro, PT, DPT, board-certified clinical specialist in neurologic physical therapy, co-director of clinical education at the USF Health School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
–        Kristin Kosyluk, PhD, assistant professor of Mental Health Law and Policy in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, director of the STigma Action Research (STAR) Lab
–        Abraham A. Salinas-Miranda, MD, PhD, MACE, CDVS, assistant professor, director of the Harrell Center for the Study of Family Violence, associate director of the USF Health College of Public Health Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education Science and Practice
–        Chris Simmons, PhD, LCSW, associate director and associate professor, USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences School of Social Work

Anthony Masys, CD, PhD, associate professor at the USF Health College of Public Health.

Kicking off the afternoon was Anthony Masys, CD, PhD, associate professor at the USF Health College of Public Health and an international expert in applied systems thinking, design thinking and futures thinking. He gave his presentation titled “Strength-Based Approach: Appreciative Inquiry.” Appreciative inquiry is more commonly known as a strength-based approach to systems change as it emphasizes generating positive ideas instead of identifying negative problems.  

Part of the appreciative inquiry model is using rich pictures to help diagram a way of relating personal experiences and perceptions to situations by linking a series of concepts.  
 
Dr. Masys’ presentation provided the foundation of the group activity and team competition for the event. 

Students split into interprofessional teams of nine to put the concept of appreciative inquiry into practice. Students shared good and bad examples of well-being in their workspaces and colleges and offered solutions on how to enhance the good examples and improve the bad examples.  
 
With the guidance of their faculty preceptors, teams used rich pictures to generate mind maps that illustrated how they plan to improve the overall provider well-being of an organization. Using a “Shark Tank” format, the teams presented their concepts to the sharks in hopes they will buy their concept. 

Sharks (judges):
–        Karen Aul, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, USF Health College of Nursing
–        Jennifer Bickel, MD, FAAN, FAHS, Moffitt Cancer Center
–        Somer Burke, EdD, MPH, CPH, USF Health College of Public Health
–        Joe Ford, JD, USF Health Shared Student Services
–        Vickie Lynn, PhD, MSW, MPH, USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences
 
The IPE Day group activity was designed to encourage interprofessional collaboration among learners through hands-on activity. Teams worked together to conceptualize a strategic vision for how wellness can be operationalized to support organizational and personal wellness. The goals of the activity were to:
–        Understand the application of appreciative inquiry as a strength-based approach to navigating various solutions in the health care domain.
–        Apply a system-thinking approach via rich pictures to support ideation in exploring the problem space from an interdisciplinary perspective.
–        Translate insights from the rich pictures into a mind map to develop a strategic implementation strategy supporting wellness. 
 
One by one, teams presented their concept to the sharks. Teams had three minutes to make compelling arguments about why their concept is the best. 

The sharks narrowed down the field to three teams who then had to prepare a one-minute elevator pitch of their concept to give to the audience. Audience members voted for the winner electronically at the end of the pitches. When the votes were counted, Team Five emerged as the winner. The team’s approach focused on a solution that centered around employees finding balance within their work environment. 

Winning team:
Erini Serag-Bolos, PharmD, associate professor at the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (Preceptor)
Camilla Cardona, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Physician Assistant Program
Hayden Euper, USF Health School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
Christopher Guskie, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Rebekah Minter, USF Health Athletic Training Program
Madison Moua, USF Health College of Public Health
Paul Munoz, School of Social Work, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences
Amiah Price, USF Health College of Nursing
Jenna Sabbagh, USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy

The names of the winning team will the engraved on the IPE Day trophy.  As the team preceptor, Dr. Serag-Bolos will keep the trophy in her office until the USF Health 7th Annual IPE Day. 

Story reposted from USF Health

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USF Health’s international and interprofessional collaborations continue through a recent trip to Gifu University in Japan and Seoul National University in Korea.

USF has active collaborations with students visiting both universities, and USF faculty and a graduate student recently visited the universities as part of long-standing collaborative affiliations.

The affiliation with Gifu University, which is based in the USF Health College of Public Health, is an example of several connections USF and USF Health have around the world that offer research, education and study-abroad opportunities. In addition, it is an example of the cross-college collaboration and interprofessional education and practice taking place at USF.

Included on this recent trip was Dr. Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, associate vice president of USF Health Interprofessional Education Program and executive director and CEO of the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS); Atsuko Sakai, professor in USF Judy Genshaft Honors College; and Emma Underwood, a PhD student in the USF Health College of Public Health, who is spending a summer conducting research at Gifu University.

The visit to Gifu University included lectures given by the USF team, tours of the university and hospital, meetings with faculty, clinical staff and leadership, including the president of Gifu University, and cultural immersive events.

The Gifu collaboration has extended to an additional USF partner in Thailand, with Gifu now sending a medical student next year for research with USF affiliate faculty at Mahidol University.

Story reposted from USF Health

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The USF College of Public Health’s (COPH) Maternal and Child Health Student Organization (MCHSO) will hold its 12th annual symposium over the course of two days in partnership with the Chiles Center and the USF Center of Excellence in MCH Education, Science and Practice. The virtual event will be held on March 4 and March 5 from 1-4 p.m. and will focus on “Creating a Better Tomorrow: Prioritizing the Global Strategy.” 

The college’s MCHSO is a forum for all students interested in maternal and child health issues. The group works to educate students about maternal and child health matters—including those that affect families—and connect them with service and learning opportunities. 

According to Sharonda Lovett, president of the MCHSO, this year’s event will highlight global challenges faced by women and children and focus on the effect globalization has on health. The symposium will bring together a diverse group of speakers with backgrounds in medicine, civil engineering, biocultural anthropology, geography and public health. 

Some of those on tap to speak are the COPH’s Dean Donna Petersen and faculty members Drs. William Sappenfield, Russell Kirby, Abraham Salinas-Miranda, Miguel Reina and Jaime Corvin.

Others from a variety of USF colleges and institutes will also participate, as will experts from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Tulane University and American University in Beirut, Lebanon.

Topics to be discussed include neglected infectious diseases and pregnancy, maternal mortality, adverse sexual and reproductive outcomes in international settings, building sustainable partnerships and COVID-19’s impact on mothers and children.

“Considering the current situation in the world, global health has become increasingly important,” said Tatiana Gerena, MCHSO research and education chair. “Global health is about looking beyond national lines and past a country’s borders to see that we are all facing the same challenges. Nations uniting to address the difficulties they face could go a long way in ensuring that every mother and child truly can be healthy.”

Thanks to its virtual nature, organizers of the symposium hope the event reaches a wider-than-ever audience.

“This is the first time in MCHSO symposium history that the annual event will be facilitated 100 percent online,” noted Lovett. “MCHSO leadership is excited at the prospect of connecting with students, providers, practitioners and advocates who might not have been able to attend prior symposiums due to the in-person format. Concerning students, this year’s symposium has been approved for Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Passport to Professionalism (P2P) opportunities and for the Global Citizens Project (GCP), which focuses on enhancing students’ global knowledge, skills and abilities.”

The deadline to register for the event is March 1. To participate in the live sessions, visit: www.bit.ly/mchsosymposium2021

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Cross-discipline and inter-agency efforts are likely to have the greatest impact on the current opioid epidemic. That was the take-away message at this year’s USF Health Interprofessional Education Day, focusing on the opioid crisis and held Nov. 13.

To a capacity crowd in the USF Marshall Student Center’s Oval Theatre, experts and advocates from across the region offered insight on the impact opioids have on our communities and how health care teams can work together to offer better identification, better treatment and better outcomes.

IPE Day is meant to help professionals across multiple disciplines work more effectively together to improve the outcomes of patients, said Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, Executive Director, USF Health, CAMLS; Executive Director, USF Health Interprofessional Education and Practice.

“Today’s theme is really about getting to know each other,” Dr. Okuda said. “Traditionally over the years, many of our health care disciplines worked in silos. Working together is the only way we can truly have an impact.”

Dr. Okuda, along with Terri L. Ashmeade, MD, MS, CPHQ, Chief Quality Officer and associate dean for Continuing Professional Development for USF Health, moderated panel sessions with experts who offered a range of expertise and experience.

Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, offered welcoming remarks and set the stage for the day’s interaction.

“At USF Health, we have named interprofessional education a core value, because we truly believe that every person, regardless of their discipline or unique expertise, benefits by learning together and working alongside colleagues from other professions,” Dr. Lockwood said. “Teams perform much more effectively than individuals do, and the more diverse the teams, the more effective they are. A more comprehensive, team-based approach is needed to eradicate opioid addiction once and for all. We owe it to all of the victims and all of the families that are affected to do everything we can.”

City of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor gave the keynote address. Her 31 years in local law enforcement and experience as Tampa police chief gave her a unique perspective of the overall law enforcement system, learning early on that the system could not handle drug crime alone. After sharing harrowing stories of drug crime since the 1980s, Mayor Castor said the takeaway was “clearly, trying to arrest our way out of this problem was not the answer.”

“Law enforcement, USF and other community partners will have to work together from a variety of approaches in order to make progress in this issue,” Mayor Castor said. “We must approach addiction in a variety of ways, identifying physiological and psychological causes, as well as taking steps to avoid putting people in addictive situations. Interprofessional education is the key if we want to make a difference in this community. Events like IPE Day bring professionals and experts from across disciplines together, so that we can tackle the opioid crisis in a meaningful way, from a 360 degree approach. We must all recognize that opioid addiction is a national crisis and it does not discriminate between race, sex, or socioeconomic class. Drug addiction destroys families and lives. In the final analysis, effectively addressing the opioid crisis is going to take our entire community.”

The morning session included two panels. The first included experts giving insight into the current crisis. A local judge, a former nurse who was addicted to drugs, a mother whose son accidentally overdosed, and a supervisor of health services for the school system.

The second session delved into how professionals across multiple, varying disciplines can pool their talent and resources to take this crisis head on. See below for an overview of panelists’ remarks.

A pharmacist and an attorney, Sarah Steinhardt, PharmD, JD (Esq.), MS, assistant professor in the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy, provided an overview of how current and pending law affects how effectively interdisciplinary teams can impact the opioid epidemic, as well as guidance on best practices for working in interdisciplinary teams.

“Keep in mind that the patient is your most important concern,” Dr. Steinhardt said. “You have to think about the patient first, and what is the best thing to do for the patient. In terms of collaborative leadership, we want everyone to take responsibility with your place on the team. Know that you have an important role. And know who’s on your team, what they can do… I challenge you students, I want you go out into your practice settings to be good role models. Be someone so that when they look at you, they’re going to say ‘this person understands what I do. This person values me and respects my feedback. This person is open to new ideas. This person is intellectually intelligent and emotionally intelligent. And this person came from USF.’ “

USF President Steven C. Currall, PhD, urged the audience of more than 1,000 to take immediate action to work together to help quell the tragic impact of opioid addiction.

“What you’ve heard this morning is a call to action,” Dr. Currall said. “Across our region and our country, the tragic realities of opioid addiction are driving us to find innovative approaches that go across all disciplines. This event is designed to break down silos, which prevent advancement of new and innovative approaches to address issues like opioid addiction. It shouldn’t take a crisis to bring us all together. Today I want to encourage you to continue to work together across professional boundaries and learn from each other to develop outstanding interventions that benefit our patients, our families, and our communities across the region.”

An afternoon session was for students from USF Health colleges and included an exercise for them to put into action some of the details they heard in the morning session. The group was divided into teams, each receiving a case study and tasked to create a systems map to offer a 3-dimensional model for showing how patients might navigate the health system and community resources.

FIRST PANEL: The Impact of the Opioid Epidemic on Our Community

“On stigma, the first thing we can do is change the language we use. Don’t call them the addict. Use person-centered language. We want to refer to them as people with a substance use disorder. They are patients, they are not addicts. They are people. They are human beings. They are your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your cousin, your aunt. They are every-day people.” by Cindy Grant: executive director of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance (HCADA) and serves on several Boards and Councils in the Tampa area, including NOPE of Hillsborough and MADD Hillsborough. In 1997, Grant’s son, Dan, died from an accidental overdose at the age of 19. In honor of his memory, she has devoted herself to substance abuse prevention.

“One of the biggest difficulties we have, there isn’t really a course of treatment for substance abuse available to me as a dependency judge…There’s not a lot of good data that any of the substance abuse treatment programs that are out there actually work…Things that frustrate me or things I wish I could do differently or better is to have some sort of tool available to me where I could more effectively help parents with their substance abuse problems, so whatever I could do to save some of the kids I’m seeing.” by Judge Thomas Palermo: Circuit Judge presiding over a juvenile dependency division, involving abused and neglected children and frequently the abuse of licit and illicit drugs, including all opioids. Prior to serving as a judge, Palermo served as a federal prosecutor and had strategic and tactical anti-opioid responsibilities as the MDFL District Opioid Coordinator. He also recently wrote an article for the American Bar Association entitled “The Opioid Crisis.”

“People continue writing multiple prescriptions. It’s a problem when we have 3-year-olds with opioids in school – we give out a million pills in schools…We need to look at a bigger picture with what we do…We can all get involved with the schools. They’re hungry for that…We work in interdisciplinary teams, so we’re not just working with the individual students, we’re working with families, with (USF Health Morsani) College of Medicine and Tampa General…I appeal to you that, when you go back to your communities, make sure you’re involved. Think outside just your patients. It’s bigger than just your patient. You have to reach your community because it will affect you one way or another.” by Maria Russ, PhD, APRN, CPNP, is the supervisor of School Health Services for Hillsborough County Public Schools and a visiting professor at Chamberlain University, with 25 years of nursing experience. A fellow in the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Russ is a published presenter on the health and safety of the school-age child and adolescent.

“One of things I discovered as a dependence counselor is that health care professionals are a pain in the butt to treat because they think they have the answers. But what I discovered is that you don’t think your way out of this disease…People need treatment. It’s a chronic disease. You don’t go into treatment for 28 days and you’re fixed. I have to do something every day to make sure I’m clean and sober. I’m 24-plus years clean. I’m looking forward to the day when we can expect people to recover…It’s a chronic, progressive disease that kills you if you don’t get treatment. There are no other options than jail or dead…This is a human issue and we need to treat people as humans.” by Jack Stem, CDCA, CRNA (Ret.), is the program manager for the University of Cincinnati Grant overseeing the Opioid Use Disorder Consortium in Highland County, Ohio. He is also a chemical dependency counselor, former emergency room nurse, and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Stem brings a unique perspective as a recovering opioid addict dealing with the disease of addiction. He is a national speaker and presenter on Substance Use Disorders.

SECOND PANEL: An Interprofessional Response to the Opioid Crisis

“I’m passionate about improving the care we provide mothers with substance use disorder and babies who are experiencing NAS. From a local perspective, we’ve used quality improvement and the power of interprofessional teams to address that. With quality improvement methods, locally, we’ve tried to standardize management of these infants. From an interprofessional nature, we formed a diverse interprofessional committee to address this locally, involving everyone, from physicians to nurses to occupational therapists to lactation specialists, and we have community partners on our teams. By doing that, we are able to gain perspectives from all of these different stakeholders, and were able to address in a comprehensive way how we could better the lives of these babies and moms while they were in our care…We were able to use what we learned locally and at Tampa General Hospital and USF Health Pediatrics and were able to spread it throughout the state.” by Maya Balakrishnan, MD, CSSBB, is an associate professor of pediatrics at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, teaching statewide interprofessional health care quality improvement courses. She serves as a Process Improvement Specialist at Tampa General Hospital, director of Quality and Safety for the USF Graduate Medical Education, and associate director of Clinical and Quality Management for the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative.

“When we’re talking about substance use disorder, we have to change the conversation of how we’re looking at it, not just as a disease but as something we can recover from…We need to ask whether the policy of pushing one type of treatment for all patients is the best policy. These are questions we have to ask. Is this type of treatment best for all patients?…Are we treating with compassionate care if the treatment isn’t working?” Katherine Drabiak, JD, is an assistant professor at USF College of Public Health and USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and a co-director of the Law and Medicine Scholarly Concentration Program in the Morsani College of Medicine. Drabiak’s teaching and research is focused on health law, public health law and medical ethics. She is a published author and consultant in the areas of research ethics and clinical ethics.

“Over the past seven years of working with the VA, I’ve see a lot of changes in how we approach pain and treatments. I’m coming from the conservative side of treatment… so if opioids are banned then what is the answer to treating pain? From my point I see the conservative treatment, so if the pills aren’t the answer, trying to instill veterans and patients the active coping strategies to help them get through what they’re going through. Pain isn’t an easy thing to go through…trying to instill in them that pain is normal but we need to help them cope with that in an active manner versus turning to more passive coping strategies of avoidance…I’ve seen the shift from more of a biomedical focus, the find-it-fix-it model, to the more bio-psycho-social model, trying to take into consideration everything that’s affecting their lives and how we can actively help these veterans and patients who have pain.” by Belinda Hurley, PT, DPT, OCS, TPS, is a board-certified clinical specialist in orthopedic physical therapy at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. She serves as faculty for the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education accredited PT Orthopedic Residency Program, and works as the primary physical therapist on the inpatient and outpatient Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Programs interdisciplinary team.

“We’re not going to arrest ourselves out of this problem. You can arrest people and you can put them in jail and it’s not solving the root of the problem, and all the things you’re doing is making it worse for this individual…We respond out to every single overdose citywide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week… One of the biggest issues I saw, more of an internal issue, was changing the culture in law enforcement…we thought it wasn’t a law enforcement issue, it was a medical issue. So we’ve had to change the culture of law enforcement over the past couple of years to explain to new officers that this is a law enforcement issue. It’s an issue we need to be involved in and it’s an issue we need to investigate like we would investigate a homicide because, in all reality, an overdose is to some extent, an attempted homicide…so changing the culture has been one of my biggest issues, trying to educate and get it out to the street officers on how they need to respond to these types cases and that they need to investigate it as a crime and not just a medical issue. The greatest thing I’ve seen so far is the relationship that we’ve developed with a lot of the ER nurses…We’re building the interprofessional relationships with the hospitals is fantastic.” by Kenneth Petrillo is a corporal in the Violent Crimes Bureau with more than 23 years of law enforcement experience. In July 2018, Petrillo was tasked to lead the newly formed Opioid Task Force. Previously, he worked in Patrol, Juvenile Investigations, K-9, and Undercover Street Crimes, among others.

“In areas that have higher rates of opioid prescriptions, they have higher rates of child removals…In terms of looking at data, I think that’s a big issue here. In monitoring programs and how those have been rolled out around the country, we’ve seen differing levels of success with them … So I think it’s going to be very important to use data to try to answer those questions. Unfortunately, there is not a great single measure of opioid use that we can point to and say that’s what I’m going to use. Even with death counts, there’s a paper in review right now that would say that those death counts aren’t entirely accurate. So for us to say this policy is working, this policy is not it’s important to look at an array of measures to try to get inside of that…In terms of health care utilization, the issue of well-care is why we’re seeing first-hand that resources need to be devoted to treating overdoses and also treatment programs. Keeping up with policies is definitely a challenge.” by Troy Quast, PhD, an associate professor in the USF College of Public Health and an economist whose research interests include the impact of economic conditions on health status, Medicaid policy, and the impact of natural disasters on health status and the utilization of health services. He was awarded research funding by the National Institutes of Health to examine the treatment of children displaced after Hurricane Katrina.

Video by Torie Doll, photos by Freddie Coleman, story by Sarah Worth, USF Health Office of Communications. Reprinted from USF Health News

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Two USF Health faculty won second place for their interprofessional education poster that was presented at the Association of University Programs of Health Administration (AUPHA) Annual Meeting in June.

Rahul Mhaskar, MPH, PhD, from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and Zachary Pruitt, PhD, MHA, CPH, from the USF College of Public Health, earned second place out of 40 presenters at the national meeting. Both are public health alumni.

From left, Dr. Zac Pruitt and Dr. Rahul Mhaskar with their winning poster.

Their poster, titled “Medical and health administration student collaboration in problem-based health systems curriculum,” highlighted the perceptions of first-year medical students in MCOM’s SELECT MD program regarding interprofessional collaboration with health administration graduate students in COPH.

Dr. Mhaskar, who is director of the Office of Research and associate professor of internal medicine in MCOM, as well as associate professor of global health in the College of Public Health, said that their finding showed to key points.

First, that there are significant changes in perceptions among medical students on professional competency, suggesting that the Health Systems curriculum improved medical students’ perceived professional competency in Health Systems-based problem solving.

And second, that there was a significant increase in “Individuals in my profession think highly of other related professions” scores, showing that perceptions regarding cooperation with health administrations improved significantly after the interprofessional education program.

Dr. Pruitt, who is assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the College of Public Health, said that future professional collaboration among physicians and health administrators would be improved through problem-based learning of non-clinical topics, such as quality improvement, health policy, and finance.

“Our study’s award reinforces the importance of collaboration among professions,” Dr. Pruitt said. “We are planning more interprofessional opportunities for our health management and medical students to learn and grow together.”

Reposted from USF Health News

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The doors opened at 8 a.m., but Shelley Ayala was third in line to receive her complimentary flu vaccination early on Oct. 21.

A resident of Riverview, Fla., Ayala has been coming to the USF College of Public Health’s flu vaccination drive, a collaborative effort with USF Health and the Hillsborough County Health Department, for six years.

Shelley Ayala (third from left) and other members of the community arrived early to be among the first individuals to receive their free flu vaccination. (Photo by Anna Mayor)

“I start in September and watch for it,” Ayala said. “It’s on my way to work and I get it every year. I knew exactly where to come, so I was already standing in line at 7:30 a.m.”

This year marks the 20^th year the COPH has collaborated with students across USF Health to vaccinate the public.

USF nursing and medical students, who have already successfully completed clinical training, administered 948 shots under the clinical supervision of an interdisciplinary team.

USF College of Nursing supervisor Margaret Ewen, MSPH, BSN, RN, registered nurse supervisor at the Florida Department of Health – Hillsborough County Adriene James, BSN, RN, occupational medicine residents and COPH faculty and staff who are also nurses are among those who supervised students.

COPH alumna Kim Rogers receives her flu vaccine from CON student Samantha Moskowitz. (Photo by Natalie Preston)

COPH’s dean Dr. Donna Petersen receives her annual flu shot from Toaa Abuelenen, medical student in the Morsani College of Medicine. (Photo by Caitlin Keough)

The shots are provided free to the public because COPH underwrites the cost the vaccine, which is supplied by the Hillsborough County Health Department, said Ellen Kent, MPH, CPH, coordinator of COPH Student Research Grants, the Sunshine ERC and USF Health Service Corps.

Dolu Afolabi and Mary Hill, both first year graduate students in the Department of Community and Family Health, decided to volunteer at this year’s event.

“I’m here because I want to give back to the community,” Afolabi said.

Afolabi and Hill were stationed to welcome guests to the reception area where drinks and fruit were provided.

“In class, we learn about the community, but here we’re are actually seeing people from the community and putting it into practice,” Hill said.

Department of Community and Family Health graduate students Mary Hill (left) and Dolu Afolabi (right) prep the complimentary drink station for guests who received the flu vaccination. (Photo by Anna Mayor)

The event also included educational displays from public health student groups and community groups, on topics ranging from epidemiology of the flu to pediatric vaccination recommendations.

COPH student Andrea Tristen of the Disaster and Humanitarian Relief student organization spoke to the community about the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign to vaccinate children in developing countries around the world. (Photo by Anna Mayor)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone six months of age and older receive the flu vaccine, as the contagious respiratory virus can lead to severe illness or even death, placing children under five, pregnant women and adults ages 65 and older at higher risk.

“So, what we do by getting as many people vaccinated as possible, we create what is called herd immunity,” said Jill Roberts, PhD, associate professor at the USF College of Public Health. “If more and more people are actually protected, we can protect the more vulnerable people.”

Medical student in the USF Morsani College of Medicine Sarah Bauch administers the flu vaccination to Dr. Thomas Bernard, chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. (Photo by Anna Mayor)

Flu season typically runs from October to May in the U.S., with peaks occurring between December and February, according to the CDC. To view the latest influenza surveillance tracking data, visit the CDC’s FluView webpage.

To see more photos of the event, visit the COPH’s Facebook photo album. See photos by Ellen Kent here.

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

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The USF College of Public Health’s annual flu shot drive kicked off early on Nov. 13, with community residents, faculty, staff and students lining up to receive the shots before the vaccinations had even arrived.

Early arrivals sign in for their flu shots in the COPH lobby.

This is the 19^th year the USF College of Public Health (COPH) has sponsored the free flu vaccination drive, a collaborative effort with USF Health and the Hillsborough County Health Department. USF nursing and medical students, who have already successfully completed clinical training, administered 861 shots under clinical supervision. An interdisciplinary team supervised the students including Margaret Ewen, MSPH, BSN, RN, adjunct faculty instructor at the USF College of Nursing, occupational medicine residents, Adriene James, BSN, RN, registered nurse supervisor at the Florida Department of Health – Hillsborough County, and Barbara Kennedy, MS, MPH, ARNP, of the USF College of Public Health.  The event also included educational displays from public health student groups.

From left, Dr. Donna Petersen, Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, Cuong Quoc Vong, Jean Ching, Sereena Pallasigui, and Dr. Kevin Sneed.

Dr. Charles Lockwood with medical student Toaa Abuelenen.

“Vaccines are one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th Century and we are honored to be able to participate in a tried and true tradition,” said Donna J. Petersen, ScD, MHS, CPH, dean of the USF College of Public Health. “The annual flu shot day is just one tangible way we can give back to the community that gives so much to us. Our commitment to improving public health extends across USF Health and this shared vision is clearly on display here as we come together as colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health to help protect the public from harm.”

The shots are provided free to the public because COPH underwrites the cost the vaccine, which is supplied by the Hillsborough County Health Department, said Ellen Kent, MPH, CPH, coordinator of COPH Student Research Grants, the Sunshine ERC, and USF Health Service Corps.

Nursing student Michelle Rojas Gil gives her mother Olga Gil her flu shot at the COPH event.

USF Physical Plant staff member, Steven Bury, and his wife Maria were the first in line and have attended the flu shot drive for the past five years. Mr. Bury, who arrived before 7:30 a.m., was off from work for the day but decided make a visit to the USF College of Public Health to get vaccinated.

“Because we’re up in age, we want to make sure that we’re taken care of and that we don’t have any problems down the road,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone six month of age and older receive the flu vaccine, as the contagious respiratory virus can lead to severe illness or even death.

“Perfectly healthy people can die from influenza,” said Jill Roberts, PhD, associate professor at the USF College of Public Health.

The flu virus is not just a concern for infants, elderly and people at high risk. Influenza affects a significant portion of the healthy adult population. Of particular concern is pregnant women, who are at very high risk.

“We see tragic stories across Florida and the United States of women in third trimesters who pass away from the flu,” said Jamie P. Morano, MD, MPH, associate professor at USF’s colleges of medicine and public health and is also medical director for the Florida Department of Health, Hillsborough County.

The vaccination has a near 80 percent efficacy rate, but not everyone can receive the vaccine, such as infants under six months. Those who cannot be vaccinated benefit indirectly from vaccinated adults and children who help build herd immunity.

“It’s like a railroad track, and if you break up the railroad track the train is not going to be able to go and that’s what the flu vaccine does,” Dr. Morano said. “It breaks up the chain of transmission in the community.”

COPH doctoral student, Samuel Matos, volunteered at the event by checking in community members as they arrived.

“I love the experience of interacting with people,” he said. “I have fallen in love with public health in the sense that you are able to apply many educational interventions and initiatives to help people protect themselves and prevent them from being sick in the first place.”

Flu season typically runs from October to May in the U.S., with peaks occurring between December and February, according to the CDC. To view the latest influenza surveillance tracking data, visit the CDC’s FluView webpage.

Dr. Donna Petersen gets her annual flu shot from nursing student Jean Ching.

See photos by Ellen Kent here.

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health. Additional reporting and video by Sandra C. Roa,  photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications.

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Genomics, the study of genes and their function, is a burgeoning field that is changing the face of medicine and other health professions as it gives practitioners, and even patients, unprecedented detail about diseases, conditions and even levels of health risk.

Beginning fall semester, USF Health will offer its first course in human genomics designed specifically for health professionals without advanced research training, including those in medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy and physical therapy.

Human Genomics in Medicine and Public Health (PHC 6943/GMS 7930) will introduce genomics and modern genetic technologies to master’s-level and senior undergraduate health students with limited training in molecular biology and biochemistry.  The course, taught by genomics experts from the colleges of Medicine and Public Health, will integrate these rapidly developing technologies into the real-world practice of personal health decisions and public health initiatives encompassing population health.

The curriculum will cover information needed to meet nursing as well as public health competencies in genomics.

Michael White, PhD, professor of global health and technical director of the new course, says the human genome is an instruction manual for building and maintaining a human being.

Michael White, PhD

“Only very recently has medicine had the tools to translate the DNA language of the complete instruction manual. The manual for each of us has unique pages that together make up our individual book of life.  Today, understanding each book of life is within our grasp, and this has profound implications for our health,” said Dr. White, a practitioner of genomics and bioinformatics in research.

“It will fall to health professionals at all levels to help us navigate this new world of genomics and teach us to confidently read and understand our own book of life.”

Dr. White designed the curriculum with course clinical director Judith Ranells, MD, chief of the Division of Genetics and Metabolism in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and a practitioner of clinical genetics.

Judith Ranells, MD

“In this course we will train front-line health professionals how the new DNA decoding tools work and how genome-based knowledge will impact the future of individual health decisions, including the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease,” Dr. Ranells said. “We will also consider strategies for preventing the potential misuse of genomic information and ensuring patient confidentiality.”

Registration in currently open for Human Genomics in Medicine and Public Health, which will be held 5 to 7:45 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Interdisciplinary Research Building in the USF Research Park.  For more information, please contact either of the course directors: Dr. White at mwhite3@health.usf.edu or Dr. Ranells at juranell@health.usf.edu

Written by Anne DeLotto Baier. Reposted from USF Health News

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