Conferences & Events

Learning from case studies is a common practice in health science education. The CLARION Case Competition takes this common practice and provides a unique experience for students to collaborate on interprofessional problem solving. Through the CLARION Interprofessional Case Competition, groups of 3 to 4 students in interprofessional teams analyze a case that deals with both patient-centered and systemic challenges in healthcare. The competition format encourages students to bring their unique perspectives to analyze and provide solutions to the challenges presented in the case. While the word ‘competition’ in this experience may seem counterintuitive in the spirit of teaching collaboration, we know from evaluation data that students are learning teamwork through this experience. We keep this in mind while writing the case by adding ‘appreciative inquiry’ perspective, asking student teams to imagine the best possible future and design an ideal state. Students describe the CLARION Case competition experience as both a positive relationship building experience as well as a team-based learning experience, relaying this learning via evaluation responses such as, “I enjoyed networking with others through interprofessional discipline and enjoyed the uniqueness of the case competition in laying out a problem and looking for resolutions.”

We are currently working to analyze over five years of Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS) data that reflect learning outcomes of the CLARION case competition, and we will share with the group the applicable teamwork and other related measures.

In this workshop, we will: 1) give a brief overview of CLARION, 2) guide participants through the key elements of hosting a case competition, 3) facilitate discussion on the case competition as an educational tool, and 4) provide time and space to work in small groups on curriculum/activity design via a “how to” worksheet, providing a space for participants to apply what they’ve learned in either a full case competition or a “mini competition” activity that can be done within an existing course.

After this seminar, participants will be able to understand the logistics and key elements of creating a full or “mini” case competition, discuss the tensions between collaboration and competition in an IPE experience, understand the role of problem-solving as a team in building interprofessional relationships, and understand how to incorporate appreciative inquiry into the case competition process.