Each year at the National Academies of Practice (NAP) Annual Induction Banquet, NAP bestows awards to truly deserving candidates who are nominated by their peers. This year’s awards were presented on March 5, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay at a black tie gala.
The Creativity in Practice & Education Award was established to recognize and encourage interprofessional programs, projects, and models which focus on the improvement of health care. This year’s award went to Thomas Jefferson University’s Complex Care Curriculum – 3Cs.
To creatively address patients with complex health and social needs, which comprise roughly 5% of the patient population and account for 50% of the costs, the Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education at TJU launched the 3Cs in the Fall of 2020. This longitudinal curriculum draws upon best practices from existing complex care clinical models. The 3Cs builds on and integrates existing interprofessional programs at JCIPE, including the Health Mentors Program and Student Hotspotting, to create one innovative, cohesive continuum which incrementally builds competencies in collaborative practice and complex care.
A key aim for the 3Cs is to enable students to develop competency in interprofessional collaborative practice based on the Interprofessional Education Collaborative core competencies. The 3Cs tracks impact on patient and healthcare system outcomes.
The National Academies of Practice Interprofessional Group Recognition award is bestowed upon a group who has made enduring contributions to interprofessional practice and education. This year’s winner was the University at Buffalo’s Interprofessional Education Leadership Team.
This outstanding team of talented faculty is dedicated to the advancement of interprofessional collaborative practice and education. The UB IPE Program currently serves over 2,500 students in 15 health professions programs.
Students are taught to move out of their professional silos with introductory, exposure level, immersion level, and competency IPE learning experiences. The team has used innovative instructional design strategies to develop, implement, and assess unique experiential learning activities that span the classroom to the community and healthcare settings. The UB IPE Leadership Team has also shown time and again their commitment to the advancement of IPE and IPCP through their research, including their peer-reviewed publications and presentations.
The National Academies of Practice Patient Advocacy Award recognizes a patient or care partner whose lived experience transformed them, and they in turn are transforming healthcare to enhance the well-being of others. This year’s award was presented to Dr. Anita Gupta.
Gupta is an accomplished physician and brings an international voice for stakeholders including patients, physicians, policymakers, and non-profit organizations. She emphasizes that doctors need to take a step back and look at situations through the eyes of the patient.
Gupta brings her own perspective from her personal patient journey as a rare disease survivor and uses it as a positive platform to improve both health systems and the patient journey. The rare disease community is fortunate to have a physician so dedicated to creating a “voice” for patients by leading the way with her own example and being actively involved in initiatives that leverage patient advocates, industry and the healthcare community.