Student pharmacists from the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences worked alongside other UCI Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences (COHS) students to craft solutions to healthcare issues that impact underserved communities.
The Interprofessional Community Health Action Project was completed by 57 groups comprised of 329 students from all four COHS schools: the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Medicine, Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, and Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health. The project was co-sponsored by the Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) Collaborative and the Health Equity Collaborative.
“The goal of the Interprofessional Community Health Action Project is to explore how a social issue impacts healthcare outcomes and to design a community engagement project to address it. Students collaborate across disciplines, developing not only an actionable solution but also essential teamwork and communication skills,” explained Dr. Nana Entsuah-Boateng, who was the project lead for the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
“Participating in the Interprofessional Community Health Action Project (ICHAP) was a transformative experience that deepened my understanding of collaborative healthcare,” shared student pharmacist Mary Nguyen. “I saw firsthand how an integrated approach can start the conversation about, and even drive, real change.”
In their projects, the teams addressed a wide range of social issues related to healthcare, including limited care access in rural areas, disparities in chronic disease management, racial-ethnic minority population mental health disparities, housing instability, food insecurity, and more. Through video presentations, the students proposed potential solutions to their chosen issue that incorporated the expertise of professionals in pharmacy, medicine, nursing, and population and public health.
The project by Nguyen’s team centered on Black maternal mortality in the Southern Belt.
“By combining our unique expertise and perspectives, we developed actionable solutions, focusing on early screening, patient education, and resource distribution. This project reinforced the power of teamwork in tackling healthcare disparities and emphasized the importance of culturally competent care in improving patient outcomes,” she said.
“The Interprofessional Community Health Action Project is novel and innovative,” said Dr. Entsuah-Boateng. “It underscores the importance of interprofessional collaboration in designing holistic, community-focused healthcare interventions. By addressing a genuine community health challenge, students gain hands-on experience that will prepare them for collaborative roles in their future careers.”
