When a group of first-year students from the Texas Tech School of Pharmacy visited Mesa Verde Elementary School, both groups were participating in the education process.
Texas Tech requires pharmacy students to go out into the community to share what they've learned in the classroom and do so in a manner that is more conversational than technical.
While students talking among themselves can easily drop acronyms and chemical compounds into conversation and be understood, it's a foreign language to children or others not familiar with the jargon.
Community Action Projects, part of the first-year curriculum for all Texas Tech pharmacy students, puts students into situations where they must communicate medical information in nonmedical terms.
"The projects allow us to sharpen our presentation and communication skills, which are vital for a health professional," said student Thomas Ferro. "The more chances we have to interact with others in a setting outside of class, the more confident we will be in helping patients once we graduate."
The students visited Mesa Verde to talk to fifth-graders about West Nile virus, its causes and prevention.
"Children are very much in tune with what is going on around them," said Alexandra Tran. "We should be ready to share with them as much information as we can and above all, be truthful."
The pharmacy students said they chose the topic after a prolonged brainstorming session.
"With the increasing number of reported cases of the West Nile virus, the continuous media coverage and increasing public concerns about the disease, our group felt it was a pertinent topic to be addressed," said Staci Lemon. "We used a PowerPoint presentation, informational handouts, a worksheet and goodie bags to relay our message to the kids and their parents."
Lemon said the group's message focused on the four "D's of prevention": dressing appropriately when outside, spending dawn and dusk hours inside, draining standing water and using insect repellents containing DEET.
"We taught them the best ways we know to protect themselves from the disease," said Shauna Potts. "We also showed them how to make their home safe from mosquitoes, which are vectors for the virus."
Eric Horne said inviting parents to attend the presentation was important.
"Being able to communicate with people of all ages is helpful to continuing our education outside of the classroom. It teaches us to work in groups with different people."
In addition to playing the role of educator, the pharmacy students said the experience also gave them an unexpected opportunity to learn from the schoolchildren.
"We were surprised to see how educated the fifth-graders were," said Erin Hurd. "They were very inquisitive and eager to build on their already existing knowledge of West Nile."
At one point in the presentation, the pharmacy students were asked if it was possible to contract West Nile from the blood of a pet. Although he knew that the Texas Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control Web sites both indicate there have been no cases where a human contracted the disease from coming into contact with animal blood, Alan Miles said the question surprised the pharmacy students.
"The young man reasoned that since humans can get the virus by blood transfusion, and most mammals and birds can get the virus but show no signs of the disease, could his dog give him the virus?" Miles said. 'The sequential thinking involved in that question was astounding to me and it made us take a step back and regroup."
Lemon said such questions demonstrate children have a basic understanding of topics like West Nile virus and they want to know more.
"The children were very receptive to our presentation and had endless questions concerning West Nile virus. As a group we were able to clarify and discredit some of the myths the kids may have heard about the virus."
Mark Hendricks is the communications coordinator at the Texas Tech School of Pharmacy.