Intercollegiate collaboration helps seniors

CSW Associate Professor, Dr. Jean Munn has co-authored a chapter for the medical text, Primary Care Geriatrics, along with Dr. Ken Brummel-Smith and Debra Danforth of the FSU COM. The focus of the chapter, interdisciplinary collaboration on medical teams, has led to the development of a course available to students in medicine, nursing, and social work to be offered summer 2013. The course will model an interdisciplinary team format, posing case studies and comprising equal team membership for each discipline.

In addition, Dr. Brummel-Smith, an internationally recognized authority on frailty and recently recognized as an Health and Aging Policy Fellow, has served as a guest speaker for the Gerontological Social Work class taught at the CSW. In November, students from that class will be able to perform real-time assessments in the COM’s state of the art Simulation Center, using standardized patients trained by the COM’s center director. The COM facilities will allow for simultaneous videotaping of 12 assessment interviews, allowing all 30 students to receive a tape of the assessment and providing the opportunity for feedback to individual students.

Furthermore, The FSU CSW, in collaboration with the FSU COM and FAMU College of Pharmacy, has been contracted by Florida Agency on Health Care Administration to evaluate the MEDS-AD Waiver Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Program (Les Beitsch, Associate Dean for Health Affairs, PI). The MTM Program is designed to increase medication adherence and reduce contra-indications and costs for Medicaid eligible and medically complex individuals in the state. The CSW component of the two-year contract involves conducting and qualitatively analyzing in-depth interviews with MEDS-AD MTM participants, primary care physicians, and administrative personnel. This qualitative approach will provide an opportunity for intervention participants to articulate the value of the program as well as make suggestions for improvements. Another contribution of the qualitative component is to understand the underlying processes in agreement to enroll in the project, withdrawal from the program, and refusals to participate. Drs. Amy Ai and Jean Munn of the CSW are co-principle investigators of the qualitative component, which will provide stipend support for four MSW students and one doctoral student each year. Also involved in the qualitative component are co-investigators from FSU COM and FAMU. The total contract award is $893,270 of which the CSW receives $380,000.

For more information on the College of Social Work’s Health and Aging Initiatives contact Dr. Jean Munn (jmunn@fsu.edu) or Dr. Amy Ai (aai@fsu.edu).