Use Experiential Learning to Execute and Broaden the Impact of Healthcare Work

Experiential learning activities that come together for an amazing learning experience

In many pharmacy training programs, Schmuhl found that while the program focused a lot on opioid use disorder treatment, they didn’t exactly talk a lot about the many things that might lead to a substance abuse disorder. She found that students were lacking training in adverse childhood experiences, social determinants of health, and learning about ethics and stigma. They also needed more training on neurobiology treatment and motivational interviewing. The next task was how to bring those topics to life for students who were studying opioid use disorder through pharmacy programs. That’s where Schmuhl’s clinical background and Nagel’s technical background merged, along with many other people’s talents, to create the escape room experience for opioid use disorder treatment training. Continue reading to learn more details about Kelsey’s and Steven’s journey as they discuss it with Echo360’s own Jeff Peterson.

Jeff Peterson: Welcome to EchoCast and welcome Kelsey Schmuhl and Steven Nagel. Kelsey is the Clinical Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and a recent Impact Grant winner from the Echo360. Kelsey is among 40 2022 Echo360 Impact Innovation grant recipients who are employing Echo360 learning technologies to create more equity, engagement, and evidence from inspired learning initiatives and we are very honored to have her on the big show today to talk about the innovative work she and her colleagues across the state of Ohio are leading to address a sadly pressing healthcare issue, really kind of an epidemic of opioid use disorder. And to specifically share how technology like that of EchoVideo is helping to both execute and broaden the impact of their work. Prior to joining The Ohio State University back in 2019, Kelsey was on the frontlines of pharmacy work in both the clinical and retail settings, so she brings both intellectual curiosity and real-world application to her students and her work today, and clearly a lot of creativity.

Joining Kelsey today is a long-time friend of Echo360, Steven Nagel, also from The Ohio State University. He is a Senior Instructional Designer at the College of Pharmacy who helped Kelsey and is helping Kelsey both orchestrate and ensure those aspects of equity, engagement, and evidence cut across all of the work being led by this very cool initiative. Steven also has a long history of instructional and instructional design leadership in higher ed, particularly in the areas of accessibility, where he’s shared a lot of his background and experience and wisdom with us here at Echo360 and a lot of folks that we have a chance to interact with and in creating equitable learning experiences for both instructors and learners. So welcome to both Kelsey and Steven.

Steve: Thank you. It’s great to be here today.

Kelsey: Thank you. We appreciate the kind introduction and we’re excited to share our work with you today.

Jeff: Well, I’m also very excited to have you guys share this work, but before we get into that, Kelsey, I’m going to put you on the spot a little bit. As I mentioned, you come from that frontline pharmacy work. Tell us a little bit about your past. How does a frontline pharmacist go from filling prescriptions at Kroger to leading this kind of work? This technology-infused, very innovative work at one of the world’s leading higher ed institutions. Was this always the path for you when you realized that you wanted to get into the pharmacy work or was this always the end goal?

Kelsey: Oh, gosh. How much time do you have? Let’s think about it. No. So this has been a passion of mind since I was a student. I remember being an undergraduate at Ohio State and being in my Introduction to Pharmacy class. I was in a major that could have allowed me to pursue several different medical-related pathways. But I had a great mentor as my instructor at that time who was teaching us. This was in about 2009. He had mentioned in class that more people are dying every day in Ohio from accidental drug overdose than they are from car accidents. And that might not seem like a dramatic statistic now. We all probably know that’s happening. But to me, when I was 18 and we were still going through the prescription opioid epidemic at that time, I hadn’t learned about that in high school and that was really impactful to me. In that moment, I went up to the professor after class that day and said, how can I help? What can I do? I’m getting into the medical field or pharmacy because I want to help people, but there’s this whole other side that’s causing a lot of harm and tragedy in families, so that was really a lightbulb moment for me that I felt really pulled toward this issue. That stuck with me throughout undergraduate and pharmacy school. I had the opportunity during pharmacy school to be an advocate for naloxone access, widespread naloxone access, which is the antidote to an opioid-related overdose, across Ohio and this passion stuck with me. There’s no specific post-graduate training for pharmacists in opioid use disorder so I did a residency and a fellowship and tailored those to my needs and the patient population I ultimately wanted to impact. I do believe that pharmacists, regardless of the setting, whether it’s community or hospital or academia, have a role to play, as we all do, in combating this issue. So that was my path. It has led me to a faculty position at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. To tell you specifically how we got into this work, I have to take you back about a year and a half now. There was a callout for faculty members to be a part of a committee that was charged with creating an educational symposium around substance use disorders for healthcare professionals around Ohio. I know that’s a big ask. So the reason this committee was formed was because, through the Ohio Attorney General’s office, there was a committee called SCOPE, and that stands for Scientific Committee on Opioid Prevention and Education. I was not on that committee, but they surveyed health professional colleges around the state to get an idea of how we were teaching about substance use disorders, what we were covering with our health professional students. They found some, quite frankly, gaps in what we were teaching our students. So from the work of the SCOPE committee came several objectives for a standardized educational experience for healthcare professional students around opioid use disorder. We found that they needed things such as neurobiology treatment, adverse childhood experiences, motivational interviewing, social determinants of health, and learning about ethics and stigma. So as you can imagine, in pharmacy school, we focus a lot on the treatment, but we don’t necessarily talk a lot about all the things that might lead to a substance use disorder including those adverse childhood events and the social determinants of health, etc. So those were the initiatives or the goals that came out of the SCOPE committee. Then my ask was to bring those learning outcomes to life. How were we going to teach students from across the state to give them a standardized experience that teaches about these different outcomes? So there was a callout for faculty members and we got about 30 to 40 people. I was the representative from The Ohio State’s College of Pharmacy, and we started meeting. We had a larger committee, but we created a subcommittee that did most of the day-to-day work. I actually was asked to be the co-chair of that committee, so from the beginning, I had a leadership role in creating this educational experience.

Jeff: And I didn’t realize the backstory in that, not only how deliberate a path led up to the pilot back in 2021. There’s a lot of groundwork that was laid. But even personally for you. That’s cool that you had such a kind of vision for where you wanted to take your own passion and combine it with your professional life. That’s really cool. So Steven, when did, to get into a little bit of the actual execution of this work, I know we’re glossing over a lot of really important other things here, but as it relates to the actual pilot program, there’s this combination of asynchronous learning and training and then some synchronous stuff. So Steven, maybe if you could give us a little bit of an overview, not of what this next iteration and the grant that you all just received and what it’s going to do, but maybe how the base pilot program was constructed from a mix of both the technology and the live and all that kind of stuff.

Steve: Sure. So part of the story was when they said we need to develop this learning experience, Kelsey said, oh, we’re talking about doing an escape room. They wanted to do maybe a physical escape room where we bring everybody together from across the state at multiple places around the state and do all that. And of course, we were still in the midst of Covid and people planning, well, how can we do a physical location thing? So they said, what about if we try to do something online. So what we started to do is think about, okay, we have that asynchronous material that you mentioned. There’s six modules that the students have to complete inside of our public-facing learning management system. So we have two at Ohio State. We have our [inaudible 09:49] canvas, which is for academic, and scarlet canvas, which is for public-facing, continuing education, outreach, and engagement. So what we did is we created those six modules in scarlet in a course, and then we had the symposium moved to a virtual event. It was through Zoom, and then the learners worked in professional groups to solve a patient case in an escape room. So we leveraged all the video we had was inside of our Echo360 video. They were watching different vignettes. We recorded some things where some of our partners in the project were role-playing as a doctor dealing with a patient, having the patient’s brother coming in as a patient who had an overdose. So there were lots of avenues where we used video as a part of the case as well as the escape room activities in general. That’s kind of the short of it for what we developed for the pilot.

Jeff: Yeah. So Kelsey, for you, then, how did the degree of technology that you ended up employing for the pilot, now you’re getting ready, you’re in Phase 2, you’re broadening the reach and the constituents that are involved in it, which we’ll talk about in a second. But for what you had in your mind and the goal that you had from many years back, are you surprised at the role that technology, things like these video modules are playing, or is this part of the mission? Or is it taking a different, if you look back on it now, you’re like, I can’t believe this is how it came out on the other end, but we’re making the progress that we want? Tell us a little bit about that.

Kelsey: Quite honestly, and I’ve told Steven this. It turned out, because of the technology that we used, so much better than I could have imagined. Our committee was meeting regularly to come up with the ideas for the case and we had really good ideas around the educational piece about what we wanted them to learn. But then we looked at each other, and we’re like, how are we going to make this an experience that the students are engaged in, that’s accessible to them, that students from around the state can collaborate together. And that’s really when we brought on Steven and his team, and it changed the whole game. Some of the things that they were able to do just taking our basic case that was in a Word document and turning it into almost, I don’t want to call it a game, but it was kind of an engaging game for them to escape this patient case. Even though none of it felt like a game. It was very serious and it was teaching important things through an escape room lens. What they did was just incredible and I’m so happy that we brought them on because I truly don’t think we would have been able to utilize a lot of the material without their work making it accessible and making it fun. So it’s better than I would have thought.

Jeff: That’s cool. So Phase 2. Now we’ve teased this Phase 2 since this episode started. So let’s talk about Phase 2. Let’s talk about how, now you’ve got things aligned. You’ve got some grant funding now to continue the work and make it even broader. Tell us a little bit about what’s going to make Phase 2 different than the pilot.

Kelsey: That’s a good question. We’re really excited about this next phase. We have secured some grant funding from an outreach and engagement grant from Ohio State in addition to Echo360 grant money, as well. What we heard from our students in the pilot running is one area of healthcare that was not represented on our teams or in the modules was social work. So we have been very intentional in adding educational models around social work and we have partnered with the College of Social Work on Ohio State’s campus to identify somebody who can help us in the creation of that content. Which will then open up the activities and the experience to Social Work students. That’s what we’re hoping to do in the next phase is to pilot this new educational content as well as include other healthcare professions such as social work. We’ve also been approached by nursing as well as medicine at Ohio State, we’re really interested in making this almost a required experience for their students. So it’s growing rapidly. We sometimes get lost in our Ohio State bubble, but we also have collaborators from around the state who are interested in continuing this and to offer this to professions such as physicians’ assistants and podiatrists and nurse practitioners and pharmacy students. So we have a really wide range—dentistry students, I forgot. We’re really excited about being able to offer this to more students and have more seats in the program for additional learners. Then I think in the future, maybe to practicing healthcare professionals as continuing education.

Jeff: Yeah. The potential reach and impact of this program is really, it’s so impressive and inspiring. So Steven, back to the instructional design side. So Kelsey’s out there recruiting more people, different disciplines. I mean, this thing could continue to really flower and expand. As somebody, then, who has your hands on the dials of the tech, of what the technologies can do, how you can be getting even more out of video and all these different things, how do you—you’ve been such a leader in areas of things like accessibility and equity. How do you maintain and manage now all of this growth to make sure that everybody’s getting, not just an equal experience, but the experience that they need to get to deliver on the mission of the work?

Steve: That’s a great question. And as things grow, as you can imagine, more and more enrollees, you’ve got bunches of different people looking at it from different lenses and that sort of thing, I think the big thing for us is, while we also have expanded my team a bit, too, so we can address these different issues. But really making sure that you have a nice quality assurance piece to it as well. That’s reviewing the content from an instructional design lens. Doing some thorough accessibility reviews. I think one of the things that’s been very helpful for us in the EchoVideo platform is the captioning transcription piece is really important and critical. So having those auto-generated transcripts—I have a team that goes through and reviews those and corrects them and applies closed captions to our videos for this program. So as we’re creating new material, that material is going through that process. But also, just as we’re thinking about the growth, I think this grant is also going to help us there, too, and as we’re seeing enrollment going into the platform. Because our scarlet platform has enrollment costs associated with it and those kinds of things, so having more people means more costs, but also means more layers of making sure you need to have that quality assurance piece.

Jeff: I will say, I think, and it’s easy for me to say, because you all are the ones managing it, but I think with what you’ve been able to do so far, I think let’s keep the train going. Let’s get more, the more the merrier, to address this issue that unfortunately is increasingly challenging and pressing for our communities. All right, so hey, we are at almost the end here of our EchoCast. Typically, and I didn’t realize it until just now. We’re breaking some new ground here on this episode of EchoCast. The very last little segment is what we call Inspiration Point, where we ask the guest to share one piece of advice, a little bit of a lesson, just the one major point that they’d like all of our viewers to walk away with, and we’ve got two guests. So we’re going to have two Inspiration Points here. So instead of having it be a jump ball here, Kelsey, I’m going to ask you first. What would be that one thing, and Steven, get your answer ready. Now you’ve got a little bit of time to even one-up your colleague here if you want. But Kelsey, what would be that one, with this experience that you’re having, that you’re creating, for those out there that are watching and are maybe trying to find a way to do similar kinds of things. You’ve got this great amalgamation of technology and the actual impact, what would be in your experience so far, what would be that one piece of advice, that one key lesson that you’ve learned so far, that you would want to impart on somebody watching this?

Kelsey: Oh, man, that’s a good question. Just one. You know, and I’m not saying this because Steven is on there, but really, truly, if you’re out there creating educational experiences, connect with, if you have an instructional designer or an instructional design team available to you, connect with them early and get to know them. They can do so many things that I didn’t even know were possible. I mean, now I’m so excited to work with them in future educational experiences and in my classes and my courses. Like I said, really and truly, they brought this idea to life. So if there’s one thing I know I did right, it was connect with Steven and his team. So I would really encourage you to do that. And another thing that’s been really helpful is to connect with learners around wherever you are that might be interested in this issue or your issue that you’re working on. So many people we’ve found have been passionate about combating the opioid use disorder epidemic in Ohio and across the country. Once we put this idea out there, we had a fellow that joined that wanted to help us and disseminate the work. We’ve had facilitators from around the state join our Zoom calls. So it’s all about the people, I think. And that would be kind of my biggest piece of advice.

Jeff: That’s great. Steven, how about you?

Steve: I’m trying to think how to top that, Kelsey. Thanks for the plug there, too. If you’re trying to take on a project of this endeavor, I think identifying the stakeholders in this whole project and getting to know them is really important. So let’s say you’re watching this and you’re thinking that you want to develop some kind of program like this. Kelsey had suggested reaching out to instructional designers, but maybe you’re an instructional designer or educational technologist or something watching this, too, and you’re interested in being involved in this. Looking for these kinds of opportunities at your institution or partner institutions, finding that work, and then showing what you can bring to the table—that will be a really key part to buy in with those stakeholders. I think a lot of this is also just applied for project management too, of really being able to understand the scope of the work that you’re doing and having some good foundations for really initiating the project, getting that plan underway, having the development, and your quality assurance pieces all in order. I think that’s really key to getting something involved in something that’s [inaudible]. You want to go and see it grow. And I’m really excited about this because I know we had all those 300 students from across the state in the program during our pilot and we’re looking at some pretty potentially large numbers as we’re moving into the spring, so this is really exciting for us.

Jeff: I know. That’s great. Well, Kelsey Schmuhl and Steven Nagel, I want to thank you both for the work that you’re leading and the impact that you’re making, not only in the state of Ohio, but really, I think, it’s going to go well beyond the borders of the Buckeye State there. Echo360 is very proud to support your work and we can’t wait to see Phases 2 and 3 and 4 and 5. And thank all of you, also, for tuning in to this episode of EchoCast. You can check out more episodes of EchoCast and tons of resources, some that were referenced here in this episode, on Echo360.com and reach out to us to help us so we can help you achieve similar inspired learning goals.

Thanks for tuning into EchoCast. For more information on these and other inspired learning solutions, visit us at Echo360.com.

The success of the experiential learning process in action

Reading about Kelsey’s and Steven’s success story is incredibly motivating. And it’s only one example of what the Echosystem does for organizations every day all around the globe. Whether it’s helping university students experience meaningful experiential learning activities or other types of education classroom engagement for business or research, Echo360 solutions take your students’ classroom engagement through experiential learning to the next level. Request a demo to learn more about what Echo360 has to offer.