Author: Teresa Schicker, MPA
11/20/2025
The Interprofessional Geriatric Case Competition is an inter-university educational experience where students of different disciplines work together, with a coach, to create a plan of care for a fictional geriatric patient. Each year a new complex case vignette is developed by an interprofessional team of faculty from health sciences.
In 2025, the geriatric case vignette focused on a fictional woman, Carla Staple, age 79, who was a veteran of the US military. In the 1970s in Vietnam the woman served as a medic and sustained an injury which resulted in an amputation of a limb. Mrs. Staple and her family were educated and owned their own home. In this vignette, which takes place in the current time period, a natural disaster has occurred. The catastrophic flood resulted in evacuation from Mrs. Staple’s home. Mrs. Staple experienced medical complications as a result of the displacement. The lead author of this 2025 case was Elaina Osterbur, PhD, from Saint Louis University; the vignette was written collaboratively with expert opinions from Veterans Affairs, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language, dental, nutrition, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, healthcare administration, and social work.
A total of 32 teams this year competed in the Northstar competition. Each team had five to six student participants and an expert coach, representing four or more professions or clinical focuses. All coaches are experts in aging and geriatrics, either as faculty educators or expert clinicians.
Teams met frequently over a month to discuss the case. They prepared recorded presentations of how they would address this vignette with an interprofessional team, including the patient at the center of the team. The teams were supported by expert coaches, who are either faculty or community experts in the field of geriatrics/gerontology. The presentations of the student teams were scored by expert judges, utilizing a detailed rubric with scores corresponding to competencies from IPEC.
The top scoring teams of the 2025 Northstar Regional Competition were the following:
Student name | Professional representation | School |
|---|---|---|
Matthew Miller | Dentistry ATSU | A.T. Still University-Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health |
Van Hong | Medicine - Physician Assistant | Nova Southeastern University Florida |
Caryn Geiger | Occupational Therapy | University of Minnesota |
Ashley Roth | Occupational Therapy | University of Minnesota |
Hannah Lysne | Social Work | University of Minnesota |
Team number 24 was the top-scoring team in the Northstar Region. These students on Northstar Team 24 represented three institutions: the University of Minnesota, A.T. Still University-Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health, and Nova Southeastern University Florida.
The expert coach for the top-scoring team of the Northstar Geriatric Case Competition is Caroline Schauer MSN, RN, CHPN, HEC-C, currently working as the chief clinical officer for Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs representing eight State Veterans Homes in Minnesota. Ms. Schauer is a community expert and clinician who is certified in hospice and palliative care. Ms. Schauer is also certified as an ethics consultant. Her career has focused on quality, education, supporting advanced certification, and excellence in geriatric clinical care.
This top-scoring Interprofessional team will compete again in a live national competition against two other regional competition winners. The final national competition took place November 18, 2025.
- 2nd Prize: Team 22
- 3rd Prize: Team 9
- 4th Prize: Team 10
- 5th Prize: Team 17
Name | Program | School | Team | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mary Nguyen | Dentistry ATSU | A.T. Still University-Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health | 22 | 2nd |
Siham Hassan | Medicine | University of Minnesota | 22 | 2nd |
Sam Mielke | Occupational Therapy | University of Minnesota | 22 | 2nd |
Emma Johnson | Social Work | University of Minnesota | 22 | 2nd |
Mari Cole | Nutrition/ Dietetics | University of Minnesota | 22 | 2nd |
Tanja Rand | Social Work | Coach from Saint Thomas University | 22 | 2nd - coach |
Leighton Stebbins | Communication Sciences and Disorders | University of Minnesota-Duluth | 9 | 3rd |
Andrew Le | Healthcare Administration | University of Minnesota | 9 | 3rd |
Monicah Gikiri | Nursing - APRN | University of Minnesota | 9 | 3rd |
Anna Busch | Occupational Therapy | University of Minnesota | 9 | 3rd |
Rachael Bouwer | Physical Therapy | University of Minnesota | 9 | 3rd |
Het Mehta | Dentistry UMN | University of Minnesota | 9 | 3rd |
Jane Danner | Healthcare Administration | Coach, as a community expert | 9 | 3rd - coach |
Rebecca Munn | Communication Sciences and Disorders | University of Minnesota- Duluth | 10 | 4th |
Anthony Ogliore | Healthcare Administration | University of Minnesota | 10 | 4th |
Natalie Newcombe | Nursing - APRN | University of Minnesota | 10 | 4th |
Tiffany Hansen | Occupational Therapy | University of Minnesota | 10 | 4th |
Rose Lopez | Physical Therapy | University of Minnesota | 10 | 4th |
Jewels Jorgensen | Social Work | University of Minnesota | 10 | 4th |
Neha Sharma | Medicine | Coach, as a Community expert | 10 | 4th - coach |
Olivia Kaliher | Communication Sciences and Disorders | University of Minnesota- Duluth | 17 | 5th place |
Hannah Omodt | Medicine | University of Minnesota | 17 | 5th place |
Emily Kriner-Woodworth | Nutrition/ Dietetics | University of Minnesota | 17 | 5th place |
Madalyn Everson | Occupational Therapy | University of Minnesota | 17 | 5th place |
Erin Reding | Physical Therapy | University of Minnesota | 17 | 5th place |
Benjamine P Clay | Dentist | A.T. Still University-Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health | 17 | 5th place |
William Vouk | Pharmacy | COACH from the University of Minnesota- Duluth | 17 | 5th place - coach |
Congratulations to these excellent interprofessional teams! They demonstrated thoughtful and creative suggestions for this fictional patient.
The financial prizes for participating students are quite modest. In future years, we hope to engage local healthcare organizations and agencies who are interested in investing in this educational opportunity to build the future workforce for those in health and aging services. Stay tuned in 2026 for another exciting Interprofessional Geriatric Case Competition!