DETROIT, Mich – Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB) and University of Detroit School of Dentistry (Detroit Mercy) will be launching a new interprofessional course to educate medical and dental students on how health care professionals collaborate for the benefits of their patients.
Beginning in March 2019, second-year Detroit Mercy dental students will learn communication skills and patient encounters side-by-side with second-year medical students at OUWB's Clinical Skills Center, (44300 Dequindre Road, First Floor, Sterling Heights) at Beaumont Hospital, Troy. At the Center, they will interact with trained standardized.
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"This academic initiative provides us the opportunity to engage OUWB's values of partnership, collaboration and teamwork across organizational boundaries. It takes all of us working in teams to obtain excellent outcomes for patients," said Robert Folberg, M.D., Stephan Sharf founding dean, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, and chief academic officer, William Beaumont Hospital.
The design of the new joint program allows students to demonstrate and apply the knowledge of their own profession and communicate with each other more effectively.
"The collaboration is educationally beneficial since it creates opportunities for the students to learn together and understand how collaborative management of the patient can improve health outcomes," said Mert Aksu, D.D.S., J.D., MHSA, dean of the Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. "Teaching students collaborative management skills will reduce the impact of the inter-relationship between oral and systemic diseases and will also reduce costs in the long run ad improve patient satisfaction."
The session topics will vary and include difficult communication issues such as delivering bad news, pain management communication and intimate partner violence. For example, one of the scenarios involves delivering news of oral cancer to a standardized patient by a medical and dental student team. Faculty from both schools will facilitate these interactions.
At the end of each session, the students will have learned how to deliver difficult news in an effective manner to the patient; describe the types of responses patients and families may have to difficult medical news; and apply knowledge of their own professional role and those of other team members to appropriately assess and address the needs of the patient. Additionally, students should be able to communicate effectively with the patient and other members of the health care tam and work collaboratively with students from other health professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values.
"An awareness will occur where medical students will begin to understand how oral health can impact the overall health of a patient. Likewise, dental students will look at gum disease and know that a patient may have diabetes," said Melanie Mayberry, D.D.S., M.S.-HCM, fellow, Academy of General Dentistry. "This awareness will lead them to ask a physician colleague about diabetes treatment."
Both OUWB and Detroit Mercy agree that this interprofessional course is important and recognize the potential to build on it for students who are in their third and fourth years of medical and dental school.
About Oakland University Wiliiam Beaumont School of Medicine
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine transforms medical education by emphasizing holistic physician development. OUWB medical students study in a collaborative learning environment where the curriculum includes courses in humanities and clinical bioethics along with biomedical sciences to develop compassionate physicians. OUWB is a union between Oakland University and three hospitals within Beaumont Health, southeast Michigan's largest integrated health care system.
About University of Detroit Mercy
University of Detroit Mercy is Michigan's largest and most comprehensive Catholic university, sponsored by the Religious Sisters of Mercy and the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Today's University boasts the heritage of two founding institutions: the University of Detroit, founded in 1877 by the Jesuits, and Mercy College of Detroit, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1941. the two consolidated as University oof Detroit Mercy in 1990. Detroit Mercy offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional academic degrees and programs through seven schools and colleges. Detroit Mercy educates the whole person, focusing on the value of excellent academics service to the community and a deeper spirituality to prepare graduate to live lives of purpose and conscience. For more information, please visit www.udmercy.edu