It’s only been three years since the University of South Carolina began competing in a national competition for students entering health professions — yet it has already placed among the top three competitors twice.
Held April 11-12 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USC took the third-place spot in this year’s CLARION competition, which attracts students from throughout the country with the goal of developing interprofessional skills among students entering health professions. Third-year medical student Caroline Hensing was named Best Presenter at the event.
The USC team’s presentation was called, “Breathe: A call to action to improve air quality.” The team included Hensing, pharmacy student Julia Geith, medical student Hadley Hudson and athletic training student Amanda Trujillo.
“For many years, the CLARION case competition has been an elite interprofessional event for health professional students,” says Betsy Blake, director of interprofessional education at USC and a clinical associate professor in the College of Pharmacy. “The competition allows students to expand their approach beyond a specific patient to the population level to make evidence-based recommendations and explore innovative ideas to improve health and make a positive impact on a theoretical community as an interprofessional team.”
“Collaborating with all members of the health care team who bring different perspectives to patient care is vital, and this experience really highlighted that.”
After fielding its first team in 2023, USC won the competition in 2024. Blake says mentorship between teams that have competed and those that are preparing to compete has been key to USC’s success. Teams compete locally first before going on to compete nationally.
“I believe the success of our teams since our first national CLARION competition appearance has been due to the dedication of the previous year’s student team to enhance the local competition and serve as coaches to the current year’s winning team,” she says. “Our students have been amazing mentors to their peers.”
Students involved say the competition has helped them prepare for their next steps as professionals.
“Collaborating with all members of the health care team who bring different perspectives to patient care is vital, and this experience really highlighted that,” says Hudson, a third-year medical student from Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Hensing, from Glenview, Illinois, says the experience not only helped her appreciate the importance of team-based care, but also developed her leadership skills.
Blake points to the award as evidence that USC is getting it right in the area of interprofessional education — emphasizing values, ethics, teamwork and communication in the delivery of health care.
“Most of all, it highlights the dedication of our faculty and staff to enhance the quantity and quality of the interprofessional experiences at USC for our students. With almost 1,200 individual students participating in at least one interprofessional education event each year, we aim to provide the most meaningful interprofessional opportunities as possible.”