Learning by doing

One of the first lessons students learn is that no one works alone.

At the Community Homeless Interprofessional Program (CHIP), students meet at Detroit’s Cathedral Church of Saint Paul once a month to provide care to unhoused individuals. The needs are wide-ranging, from blood pressure checks to vaccines, physical therapy, and social and legal assistance. Students from pharmacy, medicine, physical therapy, law and social work are placed in interprofessional teams to interview patients and provide education and access to available resources.

“Every team has one representative from collaborating disciplines,” said Dr. Aline Saad, a professor in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and CHIP faculty advisor. “They decide on the dynamics and role distribution: who’s going to initiate the conversation, who’s going to collect data and what information is essential, with the ultimate goal of providing a unified care plan.’”

While simulations and in-class practice prepare students for a variety of scenarios, hands-on clinic work exposes them to the unexpected and encourages interdisciplinary collaboration.

When a recent patient arrived at CHIP two days after being discharged from the hospital without essential seizure medication, student participants sprang into action. The patient had no address, no phone and no easy access to pharmacies. The team navigated a maze of social and systemic barriers to ensure the patient received their medication.

“We had a social work student looking for shelters and housing options. We had a pharmacy student calling the pharmacies that were open to transfer a prescription,” said Saad. “The medical student talked to the physician that discharged the patient. Everyone worked together. If they were on their own, they would not have been able to achieve that as efficiently or timely.”

Similar lessons unfold at the Diabetes Education and Wellness (DEW) Clinic. Because diabetes touches so many areas of a client’s life, students collaborate to educate clients and provide holistic care, gaining the college-to-career interactions that will serve them well after graduation.

“There’s a lot of handoff from student to student,” said Dr. Nanette Hannum, assistant professor of physical therapy in WSU Applebaum and a faculty advisor for the DEW Clinic. “They’re learning what their fellow health care professionals need to know from them, and they are getting an edge. They’re going to have that leg up when they go out into the workforce.”

Students often serve patients at their most vulnerable moments, whether experiencing housing insecurity, recovering from a stroke or dealing with the complications of a cancer diagnosis. Empathy is essential in these moments, and the clinics provide opportunities for students to navigate sensitive matters in a safe space.

“We do a whole class on empathy,” said Dr. Kathryn Smolinski, associate professor in the Wayne State Law School and director of the Legal Advocacy for People with Cancer Clinic. “These clients are not only dealing with a legal crisis — they’re also navigating a health crisis. Our students learn how to come to them as fellow human beings.”

“You’re relying on your own ability to build trust,” said Sarah Azam, a recent Law School graduate who worked with the Legal Advocacy for People with Cancer Clinic in fall 2024. “That was one of the most important things that I learned. They rely on you. When I pick up the phone, it’s about saying, ‘Hi, how are you doing today? Tell me a little bit about your week.’ We let them know we’re not just there in a transactional sense.”

Wayne State’s speech-language pathology clinics treat individuals from all walks of life, including young children, individuals dealing with lifelong communication challenges, and those recovering from strokes or other neurological impairments. Trust must be built before treatment can begin.

“You might walk in with this beautiful plan,” Craig said, “but you can’t get anywhere until you get them on board with the emotional side of their deficit. There’s an extra layer of counseling and understanding that goes into it.”

No two appointments are the same — and that’s the point. Real life brings unanticipated complications and barriers to care for which students must find creative solutions.

“You have a real person sitting in front of you, and they might have a concern that is totally unrelated to the questions that you prepared,” said Hannum. “It’s good for them to sit in that discomfort a little bit and figure out, ‘How do I pivot in real time?’”

That skill is particularly essential for working with individuals who might experience difficulties with transportation, identification or housing. Students must find a way to deliver care to patients — sometimes going to them if they are hospitalized — and anticipate how to resolve real-life complications for which classroom work might not have prepared them.

“If students educate the patients that their medication needs to be kept in a refrigerator and they know the patient has no access to refrigeration, then that recommendation is completely useless,” said Saad. “They have to consider what the patient can actually do and work with them, care providers and others to find solutions.”

Clinical work doesn’t just build patient care skills. It also teaches how to move through — and advocate within — complex systems.

“Students learn about barriers within the health care system that the patients experience and begin to understand the direct impact of patients’ social determinants of health on their care,” said Saad. “They learn how to advocate for their patients and creatively collaborate to overcome identified barriers.”

As the students delve deeper into the ways that lifestyle, social support and legal requirements relate to health, they prepare to enter the workforce with a better understanding of how their peers on the other side might operate and learn how to cooperate to meet clients’ best interests.

“I’ve seen the work our law students have done with CHIP,” said Smolinski. “Medical professionals sometimes see legal representation as an obstacle to care; when they work together, they see that these students are advocates for getting around insurance obstacles to get better care. And as our students watch the med students interview patients, they get a better understanding of how to talk to people. It makes everyone better prepared for working together in the field.”

Beyond skills and knowledge, students take away a lasting belief in their ability to serve others and to succeed. These experiences tie into Wayne State’s College to Career initiative, equipping students with the experiences and expertise they’ll need to thrive after graduation.

“The biggest thing I gained was confidence,” said Azam, who is currently preparing to take the bar exam and is lined up for work with a local firm. “I already felt like I could write an essay or give an exam. But you also need to have the confidence within yourself to be able to find the answers.”

“This is a professional training program. They’re training to do exactly what they’re going to be doing when they graduate,” said Tausha Moore, assistant professor-clinical in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of the speech-language pathology clinics. “Many of our students end up getting jobs through their placements.”

Craig has experienced that transformation personally.

“Mentoring helps,” she said. “Through the clinic experiences I’ve already had in only one year, I’ve narrowed it down to where I think I want to go.”

This is just a glimpse of Wayne State’s many student-run clinics as well as the opportunities WSU offers to provide them with firsthand career experiences. Learn more about our College to Career initiative at wayne.edu/college-to-career.