Students Solve "Medical Scenarios" with Teamwork

Students from three local universities displayed their decision-making talents and teamwork abilities while participating in the recent Health Care Team Competition, sponsored by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

The competition, which involves students from UT-Houston, Texas Southern University, and the University of Houston, tests their leadership skills and their ability to work together as a group. The students are given two test cases, and are expected to design an interdisciplinary plan to deal with the problems presented to them.

This year, the committee in charge of the competition decided to place the students in an urban high school clinic setting. They presented each of the teams with the cases - a 15-year-old boy on the wrestling team who was experiencing rapid weight loss and periodic loss of consciousness, and a 15-year-old girl who tested positive for pregnancy as well as a sexually transmitted disease. Within a predetermined time limit, each team designed a care plan for each case, utilizing the various interests of their team members.

The students represented the fields of medicine, nursing, biomedical sciences, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, health law, social work, and health information sciences.

The Orange Team, composed of 15 students, won the competition with a total of 184.2 points. Each member received a $100 scholarship and a plaque. The second- and third-place finishers were separated by less than a point - the Green Team members, who each received $50 scholarships, earned 177.6 points, while the Blue Team, which received $25 scholarships, totaled 177.1.

"We learned that teamwork was very valuable and important during the competition," said Green Team member Amanda Kaffel, a student at the University of Houston Law Center. "We found that we worked better when we worked together, and we really grew to understand and respect other students' disciplines."

"The Health Care Team Competition is a unique learning experience that is both challenging and fun for its participants," said Linda Brannon, assistant vice president of academic affairs at UT-Houston. "We believe that by bringing students from different disciplines together to solve a health issue, they will be exposed to different perspectives, knowledge and skills and see the value of working together to solve a problem. It is one more way in which UT-Houston prepares high-quality health care professionals and researchers to meet the challenges of the future."

The winning Orange Team members were:

• Michelle Bui, University of Houston College of Pharmacy
  
  
• Jung-Wei Chen, UT School of Health Information Sciences at Houston
  
  
• Malorie Gist, University of Houston Law Center
  
  
• Amanda Jolly, University of Houston Law Center
  
  
• Susara Joubert, University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work
  
  
• Christopher Lewis, University of Houston Law Center
  
  
• Shailendra Mundhada, UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston
  
  
• Donna Yates Noletubby, UT School of Nursing at Houston
  
  
• Joye Purser, UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston
  
  
• Karen Luce Raponi, UT Dental Branch at Houston
  
  
• Mary Rocha, UT Medical School at Houston
  
  
• Nancy Russell, UT School of Public Health at Houston
  
  
• Victoria Tran, University of Houston College of Pharmacy
  
  
• Courtney Walker, Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy
  
  
• Robert Warburton, UT School of Public Health at Houston

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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