College of Health Professions News

A team of College of Health Professions (CHP) faculty traveled with physicians and other health care professionals to South America this spring for a medical mission to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Georgetown, Guyana.

During the week of March 4, the group provided a wide variety of services at the hospital, including direct care like surgeries and medical assessments, as well as educational lectures, training and administrative assistance for the hospital. The trip will also prepare the College of Health Professions to take students on future missions.

UDM faculty on the mission included Associate Professor Maureen Anthony, Assistant Professor Jean Gash and Professor Carla Groh from the McAuley School of Nursing, and Associate Professor of Health Services & Health Services Administration Mary Kelly, RSM.

Forty undergraduate Nursing students are interviewing and recording the oral histories of 15 African-American elders residing at the Samaritan Manor, a long-term residential skilled nursing facility in Detroit. The students will be trained to perform elder-specific life reviews by utilizing the StoryCorps method. When completed, the residents will be presented with an edited digital copy of their oral history and a scrapbook. Digital copies will be submitted to the StoryCorps project for archival within the American Folk life section of the Library of Congress.

The UDM Nurse Anesthesia program broke all attendance records at its annual Senior Seminar, held in November at the Motor City Casino Hotel. Over 240 alumni, CRNAs in the community, and prospective applicants attended five hours of continuing education lectures on morbid obesity, chronic pain, and other topics of interest to nurse anesthetists. Proceeds from the Seminar support students' professional development, and the CHP Simulation lab.

UDM Nurse Anesthesia students have a 93 percent first-attempt pass rate on the national certification examination, which is higher than the national average (89%).

All UDM Nurse Anesthesia students perform eight or more hours of community volunteer work in their senior year. For example, eight students served as route volunteers during a local 5K/10K run to benefit A Mother’s Wish, an organization assisting victims of breast cancer. The volunteer leader for the organization said, “I can’t believe the anesthesia students. They will do anything you ask and they are such a huge help. They were amazing, very gracious and willing to do anything for the charity event”. UDM Nurse Anesthesia students are also very involved in overseas medical missions. In all, 20 of 40 graduates in the last two years administered anesthesia  in the Philippines, India, east Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America.

The Health Information Management (HIM) offered four HIM 1090 Clinical Informatics courses for the BSN completion program, plus HIM 2050 Medical Terminology and HIM 3350 Clinical Data and Health Information Needs. In Fall 2013, another four HIM 1090 Clinical Informatics courses for the BSN completion program will be offered, plus HIM 3650 Health Reimbursement Systems Management,  HIM 3700 Coding Systems, HIM 2600 Epidemiology and the Management of Vital Health Data, and HIM 2800 Pharmacotherapy for HIM Professionals.  

The HIM department began participating in the University Center at Wayne County Community College District. The advertising associated with this relationship between UDM and WCCCD has generated interest in students not only in the program at WCCCD University Center but at the McNichols Campus also.

Master of Health Services Administration student Simran Gill was awarded a $5000 scholarship. She is one of only 14 students to receive this prestigious award.

Last fall, three graduate students in the Master of Health Services Administration program were selected to compete in the annual National Association of Health Services Executives’ Everett V. Fox Case Competition in Texas. The case study was sent to the students in September and they worked diligently to develop a sound and comprehensive plan to address the many healthcare delivery and financial issues presented in the study. The competition was held in October with 20 student teams from around the country competing for top honors. This is the first team from UDM to compete. The team received financial support from the University and a donation from the local chapter of ACHE, the Midwest Healthcare Executives Group and Associates.

Graduate student Balqis Elhaddi was named the recipient of a Henry Ford Health System fellowship in Detroit. As a full-time medical technologist and quality improvement specialist, Elhaddi completed her Master of Health Services Administration degree this spring and began the fellowship following her graduation.