Mikayla Lyman, a current MHA/MBA dual-degree student, and her capstone team were recognized by the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at a recent awards ceremony. The team, including students working towards MBA/MSIS, MBA/MSF and MBA/Ph.D./MD dual degrees, received an ethics award based on their incorporation of ethics in their capstone project, and they were the only capstone team to emphasize ethics throughout their analysis.

Lyman and her capstone group had the challenge to create an implementation and evaluation plan for a new training plan Intermountain Healthcare is launching this year. With increasing rates of suicide among Utah’s youth, Intermountain Healthcare committed to hosting five suicide prevention and treatment trainings in 2018, specifically designed for mental health providers across the state. The curriculum was developed by the behavioral health and community health teams at Primary Children’s Hospital.

After in-depth research including interviewing local healthcare leaders and collecting data to identify where the trainings could be most impactful, the group gave a set of recommendations to Intermountain Healthcare. Their recommendations were research-based, and also took into account the ethical duties and responsibilities the healthcare organizations have in the local community. As a deliverable, the team developed a detailed evaluation protocol to assess the program curriculum, ability to grow and sustainability. Throughout their project, they incorporated the Daniels Fund Principles of Ethics, giving their recommendations a strong, ethical foundation and the team an opportunity to be considered for the Daniels Fund award.

Congratulations, students!