Clarion

Students building a better healthcare system together

What is CLARION?

CLARION is a student-driven, staff/faculty-advised committee housed within the CHIP Student Center. CLARION creates and conducts co-curricular, interprofessional experiences for U of MN Academic Health Center students based upon the Institute of Medicine’s report “Six Aims for a New Healthcare System.”

CLARION focuses on the professional development of AHC students and includes lessons in leadership, teamwork, communication, analytical reasoning, conflict-resolution, and business practices. Participation in CLARION leads students to a more sophisticated understanding of the healthcare system in which they will practice.

The organizational structure of the CLARION student board models the type of interprofessional equality and collaborative leadership which will be needed to effectively solve the current healthcare system challenges. The interactions which occur among students lead to critical learnings; the most prominent being that many fundamental biases about other professions are firmly rooted before students enter the health professions workplace. Hence, the primary goals of the organization are for participants to develop an understanding and appreciation of the skills that each profession brings to the healthcare team and to develop positive relationships which will extend into their professional careers.

Why CLARION?

The cause is safe and high quality care for patients. Tens of thousands of deaths occur each year from preventable medical errors. Miscommunication and lack of communication among caregivers is cited as a main cause of the problem.

The call from leaders in the healthcare field, such as the Institute of Medicine and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, is that the safe, high quality patient-centered health care system patients deserve will require breaking down the isolated disciplinary silos in which students are trained.

CLARION Activities

The CLARION curriculum is a year-long succession of experiential activities culminating in a “capstone event” - a Case Competition in which interprofessional teams of students present a root cause analysis of a fictitious sentinel event to a panel of senior-level health executives. Ultimately, CLARION is a catalyst, inspiring faculty to reexamine traditional curricula and seek ways to integrate interprofessional opportunities into the education and experience of AHC students.

CLARION sponsors a variety of events and activities, from “Friday Night in the ER”, a simulated board game, to a tour of a hospital which models interprofessional teamwork, to the Spring Case Competition, in which local and national interprofessional teams compete to find the sentinel event and make recommendations surrounding a constructed, thought-provoking case.

How to get involved

Any University of Minnesota health professional student is welcome and encouraged to attend any CLARION events and to participate in the local case competition.

Please contact Karla Van Wagner vanw0038@umn.edu if you have any questions.