Inter-Professional Faculty & Student Led Service Learning Tobacco Cessation Program Casey Chaney, PT, PhD, OCS, CSCS a | Keri Hurley, PharmD, MPH b Stephanie Luo, PharmD c | Anne Kugler, PharmD, BCACP d a Western University of Health Sciences, CAHP, Department of Physical Therapy, b West Coast University School of Pharmacy, c University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, d Western University of Health Sciences, College of Pharmacy Inter-professional education (IPE) programs are in various stages of implementation in professional programs across the country, yet most of these provide limited opportunities for clinical teaching and direct patient care 1. Tobacco has numerous health-related effects involving every organ system 2. Furthermore, effective cessation therapy is multimodal and addresses the physical and psychological aspects of addiction 3. This creates an opportunity for improving the link between theory and practice. Service learning connects meaningful community service with academic and personal growth. Students are provided an opportunity to work as a team as well as to work with faculty role models. For these reasons, tobacco cessation is well suited to inter-professional collaboration and IPE. 1.Abu-Rish E, Kim S, Choe L, et al. Current trends in interprofessional education of health sciences students: A literature review. J of Interprof Care. 2012;26(6): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, Heydari G, Masjedi M, Ahmady AE, et al. A comparative study on tobacco cessation methods: a quantitative systematic review. Int J Prev Med. 2014;5(6): BACKGROUND Special thanks to Dr. Rudy Mireles for his efforts in coordinating and facilitating this program on a weekly basis as well as to Rx for Change. Designing and implementing a program to assist with tobacco cessation on a professional campus offered an opportunity for practical inter-professional interactions for both students and faculty, but was hampered by limited numbers of participants. TABLE 1 : WEEKLY TOPICS & ACTIVITIES Week Topic/Activity Faculty/ Student Leader 1 Introduction to health consequences of smoking College of Pharmacy 2 Tobacco cessation therapies: Administration and side effects College of Pharmacy 3Addiction and nicotine pharmacologyCollege of Pharmacy 4 a)Post-cessation weight management b)Learning to cope with withdrawal Dept of Physical Therapy Dept of Physician Assistant 5 a)Tobacco’s adverse effects on the mouth b)Tobacco’s adverse effects on the eyes College of Dental Medicine College of Optometry 6 Tobacco’s adverse effects on cardiovascular and other systems College of Nursing DISCUSSION Campus location may have presented some barriers to participants outside of the university community. Moving this program off campus, reaching out into community facilities, such as churches and community centers that are nearby, may be a necessary step to increase community participation. Placing flyers in local churches, independent pharmacies, on community bulletin boards, or by attending non-campus health fairs may also be required to increase participant numbers. Application for recognition as an officially funded university organization may also help to maintain student participation and longevity of the program. Faculty members from each of the eight professional programs at the university were invited to join an advisory board to design the program and guide students. After development and initial delivery of materials by clinical faculty, the goal was to mentor students to deliver content. The program, held once per semester by an inter-professional group of students and faculty preceptors, was comprised of a series of six weekly group sessions, and was open to staff, students, and community members. The initial session focused on a detailed patient interview, reviewing patient’s history of tobacco use, medical history and readiness to quit. Subsequent meetings included presentations and short topic discussions facilitated by student coordinators and faculty for minutes, followed by individual motivational interviewing for up to minutes per session. Presentation and discussion topics were selected based on nationally recognized programs and the professions represented on campus. Rx for Change was a key program used as resource. Patient progress was assessed during each session and focused on patients’ challenges for the week and goals for the upcoming week. An initial fee of $40 was collected but this was refunded in part or in full based upon compliance/attendance. Student coordinators worked with faculty to tailor the program’s content to patients, as appropriate. After three semesters, 20 students were involved as volunteers or coordinators. Students represented five of the nine graduate colleges, and the following six health science programs: dental, medical, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy and physician assistant. The inter-professional team involved in planning and implementation were faculty from the following seven programs: dental, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant. Six patients started the program, only five completed the program, but all five quit successfully. Participant fees were refunded after the last session to all attendees that came to the minimum number of sessions required. Students, faculty, and participants anecdotally expressed positive experiences during planning or completing this program. The development and implementation of a pilot community-based smoking cessation program to be delivered by students from multiple healthcare disciplines with participation of inter-professional clinical faculty. FIGURE 1: Student Volunteers by Program PROJECT OBJECTIVE RESULTS PROGRAM DESIGN AND METHODS CONCLUSION REFERENCES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS