Holistic Healthcare Problem-Solving

“The interdisciplinary case studies are meant to simulate real-world disciplinary meetings about a fictional individual’s health and how to approach the patient’s care using feedback from all the different disciplines,” said Dr. Betty Larson, a professor in the nutrition, dietetics and exercise science department.

The event has grown since its first year when students had only one case study about allergies. Now, Larson and nursing associate professor Dr. Jennifer DeJong manage six case studies that are peppered throughout the academic year. Each involves a variety of majors and focuses on a different subject, such as coronary heart disease, mental health, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes mellitus, childhood disabilities, and public policy.

Disciplines asked to participate in each case study depend on the subject matter. In the most recent one on coronary heart disease, the involved majors were nutrition and dietetics, exercise science, nursing, and social work.

Students are split into groups with a mix of different majors and have 20 minutes to review the health profile of the fictional patient, including all religious, social, and cultural aspects, as well as drug and herb interactions.

“Each discipline receives a different profile for the patient based on their field of study and each gets a turn to discuss what they would prioritize,” said Ali Przybilla ’21, a social work major from Royalton, Minn. “It’s like a real-life team.”

For this year’s coronary heart disease profile, students were given a health profile of a 66-year-old Muslim male who moved to the United States from Iraq nine years ago and is complaining of severe chest pain. The students then prepare charts and obtain journal evidence to support the points they plan to make.

“Participating in this gives students a huge advantage,” Larson said. “They have to learn to bring down their language to another discipline’s level so they can be understood.”

After reviewing their patient’s profile, students choose their group’s three top priorities for the patient and present their reasoning to the other groups.

“Being a part of the group answers basic questions like, ‘What does a social worker or a nurse actually do?’” said Kylee Seljevold ’19, a nursing major from Moorhead. “We ask everyone in our group, ‘Do you feel your voice was heard?’ We make sure we got across to others what we all think. We then work together to find the best way to treat this person. It prepares you to discuss things in an interdisciplinary meeting.”

Concordia has won numerous accolades for work on the interdisciplinary case studies, including an award for nursing research from Sanford Health Nursing Symposium and a mention in North Dakota Nurse Magazine.

“A lot of places give kudos to Concordia for having this type of thing for students,” Larson said. “We’re able to do it because the whole campus has community time on Friday mornings and that is a huge benefit. It’s different than other schools because students have to prepare themselves beforehand and be in a setting where they have to be assertive and feel competent enough to do that.”

^{Published April 2019}