UQ students win HealthFusion Team Challenge

A team of six University of Queensland students has won the annual Australian HealthFusion Team Challenge.

The Australian HealthFusion Team Challenge is a competition designed to educate the nation’s next generation of healthcare professionals in collaborative patient care.

Students from eight universities took part in the competition on 29 August and were involved in three rounds of challenges, presenting solutions to health-related case studies that required an inter-disciplinary approach.

The UQ team consisted of students nominated by lecturers and tutors in the programs of nursing, exercise physiology, pharmacy, social work, occupational therapy and speech pathology.

UQ nursing student Carmel Blackburn worked with her team four weeks before the event to prepare for the challenges.

“It has been such a great learning experience,” she said.

“It’s inspiring working with fellow students who share my passion for patient-centred, ethical, collaborative care.

“Our team presented in colourful scrubs to identify each discipline, and in our first case study presentation we took the scrub shirts off to reveal our UQ shirts, an action which represented the holistic approach we adopted to patient health care.

“The time commitment is minimal in comparison to what is gained by participating in this event. I am so grateful to have attended.”

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences Associate Dean (Academic) Professor Sarah Roberts-Thomson said students gained valuable insight into real-world healthcare issues and team work.

“The HealthFusion challenges play an important role in preparing students for tomorrow’s workforce, where the increase in chronic disease management will call for intervention from interdisciplinary teams,” Professor Roberts-Thomson said.

“I congratulate the UQ team for a wonderful result, and I thank Dr Emma Beckman from the School of Human Movement Studies, who coordinated the team and provided the students with exceptional support.”

The UQ team consisted of Carmel Blackburn, Emily Frawley, Rebekah Moran, Courtney Scott-Hunter, Michelle Wei Fern Yee and Tereza Stillerova from the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.

Media: Helen Burdon, Marketing and Communications, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, 3365 7436, 0412 744 437, h.burdon@uq.edu.au