Department of Allied and Population Health update

Story written by: Matthew Schmidt

Research is one of the key pillars of the Department of Allied and Population Health. Our multidisciplinary department brings faculty from respiratory care, medical laboratory sciences, pharmacy and public health backgrounds to work together to improve care of patients. Faculty are either tenure-track researchers with upward of 25% or higher dedicated time for research or nontenure track practice/instructional faculty with an emphasis on instructional scholarship and clinical service. Our research, therefore, can be broadly classified into research and scholarship of teaching and learning.

Since its July 2019 inception, department researchers have received more than $3 million in grant funding to improve care of South Dakotans. The multiyear, multimillion-dollar project “Improving the Health of South Dakotans through the Prevention and Management of Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Stroke” is funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This project alone has brought in $2.5 million since its 2018 launch. Internally, the project brings researchers with expertise from pharmacy practice and allied and population health to develop, implement and evaluate statewide programs and services that expand the role of the pharmacist and improve outcomes and care for patients. Externally, the project offers resources, expertise and funding to collaborators who are interested in innovative solutions to problems impacting care for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Our researchers work with collaborators from various integrated delivery networks, community-based organizations, federally qualified health centers and tribal partners to expand the care provided. This project is an excellent example of practice driving research, which in turn broadens community engagement and outreach.

Another example of this research trifecta is “Improving access for patients and families affected by substance use disorders.” This $1 million project is funded by the Heath Resources and Services Administration Rural Communities Opioid Response program (RCORP) and launched the START-SD program in 2020. This project was built on the foundation of a $250,000 RCORP planning grant that brought together faculty from the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, College of Nursing and the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Externally, START-SD uses multisector partners to create a support team of experienced practitioners and a network of services to address stigma and share best practices. The grant also supports patient access to telehealth visits for medications for opioid-use disorder and peer-recovery services by covering cost of treatment.

COVID-19 saw an increase in the need for services offered by our medical laboratory sciences and respiratory care professionals. Our respiratory care faculty and students were on the front lines and offered practice-based solutions to ongoing challenges at health systems across our state. Our faculty continue to be asked to serve and lead committees that review policies and practice guidelines. They are often asked to make recommendations based on their observations and work closely with the respiratory departments across the three major health systems in South Dakota. As the respiratory care program celebrates its first anniversary with us, I see a tremendous potential for continued practice-based scholarship and collaborative research.

Our medical laboratory sciences team continues to grow and advance professionally. We saw a heightened emphasis in scholarship stimulated through an interdisciplinary professional hour, which was hosted by the department. Three MLS faculty presented their work at the Clinical Laboratory Educators Conference and the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Sciences Annual Meeting. Additionally, for the first time, we’ve had two MLS students present posters on their work with an MLS faculty member at the annual meeting.

Scholarship and research are certainly growing within our young department. The increasing drive among instructional faculty to contribute to scholarship; heighted need for expansion of services in rural health; a desire to document, study and capture innovative clinical practices through scholarship; and the need to maintain successful grantsmanship led to the creation of a center with the infrastructure that supports these areas. The Community Practice Innovation Center was official approved by the South Dakota Board of Regents in October 2020. It provides the infrastructure for the previously noted federally funded projects and will continue to serve as a resource for faculty within our department, college and university. What began as a department with one researcher has melded into a transdisciplinary department where the trifecta of practice, research and community engagement brings together practitioners, instructors, researchers and students working together to improve the human condition through the use of the scientific process.