A Wichita team's multifaceted plan to address the opioid crisis earned them second place - and $5,000 - this spring in a national case-based competition that teaches interprofessional collaboration while crafting solutions to thorny problems.

They took part in CLARION, which has been put on by the Center for Health Interprofessional Programs at the University of Minnesota since 2002. The center hosted the 16-team final April 13 and 14, with a Drake and Des Moines universities team taking first.

Area students have competed in CLARION on and off since 2009, with last year's team the first to take part in several years. This year's team was advised by Mary Koehn, education association professor at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, and included third-year medical student Mariah Kriwiel of Wichita. Other members came from Wichita State University programs: Kassidy Simmons, physical therapy, and Chelsea Chilcott and Kendall Hallstrom, both speech pathology students.

Explaining her involvement, Kriwiel said medical school provides opportunities for collaborating with other health professions, but "this one sounded more hands on."

Their case involved opioid addiction and treatment in fictional Densford County in West Virginia, a state hard-hit by the prescription and street drug crisis. Zooming in on two fictional patients, the students marshaled existing resources and envisioned new ones. They called their approach C.A.R.E., for Community, Advocacy, Resources and Education.

They contended with funding, transportation and other access issues, and the stigmas about addiction. Their suggestions included better tracking of narcotics prescriptions, provider education, community support groups, screening for depression and substance abuse, and alternative pain management.

They developed a three-year plan that funded staff and programs through federal and other grants and established metrics to gauge C.A.R.E.'s success. They also assessed the cost savings from reduced overdoses and incarceration and better health and productivity.

"We made every decision together and all felt comfortable bringing up new ideas," said Kriwiel, adding the financial aspect brought a steep learning curve.

"I really haven't had any experience with speech pathologists," she said. "It was interesting how they thought about the different aspects of the case and were more focused on the community aspects. That's really what the competition was looking for, to hit it from all angles."

Students were recruited at the medical school, Wichita State University and elsewhere. Starting with 18 students in November, time and other obligations winnowed the number to the core four. Late last year, they attended sessions to prepare for the case, on topics such as culture, collaboration and health care finance. In January, they and other teams received the actual case, and detailed research and work began. They met regularly and did two presentation run-throughs in March and early April

"A tremendous amount of work goes into this and it showed," Koehn said.

Kriwiel would like to see more medical students participate. "It's a great opportunity for everyone to be more exposed to collaboration. They learned a lot as far as the medical side, about how future doctors think and how to interact together. And it was really rewarding to take a problem and come up with a solution. A lot of times we don't have the chance to come up with the solution."

"The whole point is to be interprofessional and learn to work as a team," according to Koehn, who said the team did that and more. "One of the things they said was that they became best friends."