Interprofessional Team to Have Case Study Published by Veterinary Association

An interprofessional education team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University that includes two faculty members from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy will have a case study published in January on the websites of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.

When Kelly Scolaro, Pharm.D., an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, came across the AAVMC One Health Case Competition, she considered it an opportunity to foster relationships within various health professions and universities.

The team, which began working together in the summer of 2015, developed the case study “A Veteran and His Dog: Man’s Best Friend” in which they created a role-play scenario using standardized human and canine patients. The published case will be used as an educational tool in health-care programs throughout the country.

Members of the team include:

• Erin Brewer, Pharm.D., clinical veterinary pharmacy resident at NC State
• Erika Rost, Pharm.D., M.B.A., clinical veterinary pharmacy resident at NC State
• Rebecca Cozart, D.V.M., Banfield Pet Hospital in Augusta, Georgia
• Gigi Davidson, director of clinical pharmacy services at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and adjunct clinical instructor UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
• Carol Durham, Ed.D., R.N., professor, UNC School of Nursing
• Gene W. Hobbs, associate director of simulation, UNC School of Medicine
• Benny Joyner, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., associate professor, UNC School of Medicine
• Kelly Scolaro, Pharm.D., assistant professor, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Additional assistance was provided by Kevin Robinson from the Academy in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

The case focuses on the health concerns of Robert Santiago, a 63-year-old veteran who uses a service dog, Siri, a 6-year-old female golden retriever, for management of posttraumatic stress disorder.

“The case study is not just for veterinary students. It can be used for any of the health-care professions,” Scolaro said. “AAVMC and APTR will publish the case, and it will be available to faculty members to use in schools of veterinary medicine, pharmacy, nursing and medicine across the country.”

Scolaro recruited team members and then passed leadership to Brewer and Rost from NC State. Two members of the team from the NC State faculty, Brewer and Davidson, are UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy alumni. Brewer also serves as a preceptor in the School’s experiential education program.

The project includes a comprehensive written case with parts for students and faculty and two videos. One scene focuses on human care with a nurse practitioner, and one features canine care with a veterinarian.

In addition to having their case published, the team will receive a $1,000 award and team members will be designated One Health scholars.

“This is one of the first opportunities we have ever had such innovative inteprofessional collaboration with the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine,” Scolaro said. “Interprofessionalism is the new way of designing educational materials. I am so grateful we are in such close proximity to the NC State vet school, and the One Health Case Competition has been an amazing experience for me and the rest of the team.”