MCW Pharmacy and Medical Students Win Statewide Healthcare Case Competition

An interprofessional team from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) won first place at the statewide Area Health Education (AHEC) healthcare case competition. MCW School of Pharmacy student, Cassandra Rucks, and MCW School of Medicine Students, Megan Cory and Wasif Osmani, representing Milwaukee AHEC, competed against eight other finalist teams at the state level competition at the Wisconsin Dells.

“This experience has grown my confidence in public speaking and interacting with other healthcare professions,” says Rucks. “All three of us also had the opportunity to work together at MCW’s Saturday Clinic for the Uninsured, which played an integral role in our team’s success. Interprofessional education goes beyond healthcare and finding creative solutions for complex problems can start by receiving buy-in from stakeholders within the community.”

The students were assigned a complicated case study and given two months to analyze the opportunities available to enhance interprofessional collaboration. They won a local MCW competition before advancing on to the state level at the Wisconsin Dells, where they received a $3000 prize for their first place win.

“We learned the importance of team dynamics and how to overcome adversity so we may work together towards developing interprofessional and community engaged solutions to improve healthcare and health equity in our communities,” says Cory.

Each team presented their findings and recommendations to a panel of judges that consisted of leaders from multiple disciplines within Wisconsin’s healthcare community.

“After 6 years of MCW teams attempting this competition, we feel honored that we were recognized for our focus on community engagement and interprofessionalism. These are values that MCW is known for and we were proud to showcase that in our team and our proposal," says Osmani.

The MCW School of Pharmacy has a strong focus on interprofessionalism. Students experience approximately 200 hours of interprofessional experiences throughout their lecture-based courses, laboratory courses, clinical rotations, and co-curricular activities. They learn about, with, and from students from a variety of different professions, including physicians, anesthesiology assistants, nurses, medical interpreters, occupational therapists, and physician assistants.