Thu Ha Nguyen: Class of 2020

Thu Ha Nguyen: class of 2020: Committed to Interprofessional Teamwork

Thu Ha Nguyen, class of 2020, represented the University of Minnesota at the National CLARION Interprofessional Healthcare Case Competition. She and her teammates, Chelsea Akin and Yesha Yisma, won the local CLARION Case Competition in March to qualify for the national competition that was held April 12-13 at the University of Minnesota. 

The CLARION competition consists of teams of interprofessional students that are given a case and asked to come up with a root cause analysis. They then present to judges from different professions who evaluate their analysis, using real world standards of practice as the basis for their evaluations.

“This experience is so unique because it has provided me the opportunity to experience how an interprofessional team works together to solve real-life issues,” Nguyen said. “I was able to contribute to the team by providing my pharmacy experience while learning from my teammates and their perspectives, which led to a well-rounded solution to the issue at hand.”

Through winning the local competition and competing at the national competition, Nguyen says she and her teammates had a lot of fun and learned a lot, including the value of working with other health professionals.

Nguyen says the biggest difference between the national and local competition was that students from all across the country were present.

“It was so much fun to connect with teams from all over the country and to learn from them,” she said.

Participating in the CLARION Case Competition led Nguyen to one main takeaway: every profession is unique.

“Each health profession has its own purpose, method of communication, and a way to creatively tackle new or emerging problems,” Nguyen said. “I regret not participating in the CLARION competition sooner. Thus, I highly recommend all health care professional students to partake in this incredible opportunity.”

In addition to participating in the CLARION competition, this year Nguyen has also been involved in student-led organizations as the coordinator of Operation Heart through the Minnesota Pharmacy Student Alliance, and as the Center for Health Interprofessional Programs representative for the Interprofessional Development Student Organization at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is currently interning at Fairview Health Services Community Pharmacy and Essentia Health Inpatient Pharmacy.

Story by Owen Mageau