UNMC’s iEXCEL program held its fifth annual iEXCEL Innovation Awards at a ceremony Feb. 18, recognizing seven innovative professionals or teams from across the med center.
The 2024 awards recognize faculty and health care professionals who created and implemented new ideas for teaching, research and scholarship using simulation technologies and the unique capabilities of UNMC’s Davis Global Center and the Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning.
“As iEXCEL continues to grow, the work being done at the Davis Global Center is truly changing the game for both students and health care professionals alike,” said UNMC Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD. “The outcomes and impact on patient care and health care delivery in general are limitless and that is thanks to the ingenuity and dedication of UNMC’s faculty, staff and students.”
Pamela Boyers, PhD, associate vice chancellor for clinical simulation, iEXCEL, commended the talented professionals who are using the center to innovate, do research, improve patient care and collaborate across the health care disciplines.
“Each year we see growth and change, and what we are seeing this year is a lot more interprofessional collaboration across the disciplines and statewide activities that are going on,” Dr. Boyers said. “We want to encourage to you to keep doing what you are doing and work with us as we head into iEXCEL 2.0”
The 2024 iEXCEL Innovation Award winners are:
Academic Award: Lizz Reese, Sara Fisher, Sarah McBrien, PhD, Brittany Bowman, and Laura Cudzilo-Kelsey, MD
Implemented a genetics counseling course on the iWalls developed from Reese’s capstone project and introduced it into the curriculum.
Clinical Award: Jane Broekemeier
Incorporated an operating room simulation into the dental hygiene curriculum for surgical processes. This included history and physical, pre-op, handwashing, gowning, team roles, time out, transfer, procedural practice and collaboration with anesthesia professionals.
Collaborative IPE Award: Andrew Maresch, MD
Designed and led an interprofessional course for the cardiac surgery team, including anesthesia, cardiothoracic surgery, perfusion and operating room nurses. Simulations included coming off bypass, going on bypass with power failure, transport emergencies and air embolisms.
Impact Award: Scott Sanderson, Amber Lickert and Nicole Insinger
Developed a cardiopulmonary bypass machine digital twin, CardioHelp modules and new application of MetaVR headsets.
Nebraska Medicine Award: Karen Townsley
The acute care nursing orientation and ambulatory nursing groups collaborated with iEXCEL’s VizHub to create lead placement and medication administration activities.
Rural Outreach Award: Nichole Cooks, Becka Neumiller, Amy Goldman, DPT, Becky Kinnison, OTD, and Chastity Orr
Collaborated with professionals from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital and Creighton University to host the “Multidisciplinary Management of Stroke: Hemorrhagic and Acute Ischemia in Women” statewide conference, an accredited, continuing education activity designed for physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and rehabilitation specialists.
Teaching Technologies: Christie Barnes, MD and Daniel Surdell, MD
Created multimodal learning sessions on skull base anatomy using visualization and surgical simulation. The surgical simulation was done in collaboration with the University of Kansas Medical Center.