Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program
AHEC Summer Projects & MedQuest
MedQuest 2013
Introduction
MedQuest is a college campus-based health careers exploration program for Vermont high school students; they live in a dormitory and have a variety of didactic and shadowing experiences during a week-long experience. Medical Student Positions are open to UVM College of Medicine students between their first and second year. Your role as a Medical Student Leader is to help deliver components of the designed programs, to serve as a role model for the students, and to be 24/7 staff and chaperones during the week. A total of six MedQuest programs will be offered this summer around the state and in Burlington.
AHEC Summer Student Opportunities 2013
Introduction
The UVM Office of Primary Care is pleased to offer several opportunities for student projects during the summer of 2013. The Vermont Area Health Education Centers Program (AHEC) is a federally funded program with a mission to improve the health of our communities through the development of the health care workforce. To that end we are focused on creating opportunities for students to learn more about practice in rural areas, working with underserved populations, and working on multidisciplinary teams. The experiences of the student teams working on these projects may be incorporated into the Generations course that is directed by Dr. Reback, one of the faculty advisors.
Improving Latino Farm Workers’ Access to Primary Care in Lamoille County
Northeastern Vermont AHEC (Contact Bob Swartz, bswartz@nevahec.org)
Vermont’s dairy industry relies on farmworkers whose country of origin is in Central or South America. These workers, who may reside in the US for years, face special challenges in accessing healthcare because of language barriers, immigration policies, cultural differences, and other issues. There are a variety of stakeholder groups in Vermont who have been working for years to improve the health of this underserved population.
One medical student and one graduate social work student will work for two weeks as a team to improve health access and management for farm workers (particularly Latinos) in the Lamoille Valley. Centered in Morrisville, the team will: 1) assess the area’s needs in collaboration with a Spanish-fluent family physician; 2) discover resources in other parts of Vermont that could be modified and used in Lamoille County; and 3) link with the BiState Primary Care Association to implement the recommendations. BiState PCA represents the Federally Qualified Health Centers of Vermont and New Hampshire, which focus on the care of the underserved (see http://www.bistatepca.org). They have funding from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy (http://www.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth)
Project duration: 2 weeks in June or July, with additional preparation work.
Stipend: $500 per student per week for two weeks (Total $1000 per student)
Faculty advisor: Charlotte Reback
Exploring Integration and Collaboration between Mental Health and Primary Care
Champlain Valley Area Health Education Center (Contact Judy Wechsler, jwechsler@cvahec.org)
Despite the introduction of the Biopsychosocial Model to medicine thirty-seven years ago, our culture and our health care system continues to operate from an artificial divide between physical health and mental health. This divide is a barrier to achieving the highest quality care here in Vermont and elsewhere across the country. There are many efforts, both locally and nationally, to bridge this divide.
One medical student and one graduate social work student will work for two weeks as a team to investigate how organizations and clinicians are working to improve collaboration and, in some cases, integration. Some of the questions to be addressed are: How is integration of care defined and offered in Vermont? What efforts are happening here in our region to make integration of care happen? What models are in place? What barriers and challenges exist? How do health care insurance policies dictate the provider’s ability to move toward integration of care? For example, Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers (FQHC’s) have incentives to provide co-location of services with provider communication and access to shared information via EMR. Community mental health programs have begun to offer primary care services on site. How are these models working? What can we learn from their efforts? What can providers in private practice do to move toward integration of care?
Through the 2013 Summer Opportunities offered by Champlain Valley AHEC, the students will explore several different models of integrated care in our region. Through a series of personal interviews with providers in a variety of practice settings, recommended reading and working with faculty advisor to develop survey instruments prior to the start dates of the project, students will:
- learn how integrated care and collaborative care are defined in Vermont,
- understand enablers and barriers to integrated care in real world practice settings,
- share their learning with project participants and peers via poster and power point.
Project duration: 2 weeks in June or July, with preparation work as noted above.
Stipend: $500 per student per week for two weeks (Total $1000 per student)
Faculty advisor: Charles MacLean
Team Care: It Takes a Community to Care for our Elders
Southern Vermont AHEC (Contact Susan White, SWhite@SVAHEC.org)
Grace Cottage Hospital and Brattleboro Hospital Regions
Six thousand Americans turn age 65 every day. As the peak of the baby boomer generation reaches this milestone over the next decade, that number is expected to reach 10,000 per day. What special skills will health professionals (physicians, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, and others) need in order to meet this high demand for geriatric health care?
This project is experiential. Students will be mentored by two experienced Family Medicine preceptors who have sizeable geriatric practices. The focus of this rotation is on acquiring skills and knowledge regarding the complexity and interdisciplinary structure of elder care. Settings for shadowing and engaging with Vermont elders include primary care practices, long term care, adult day, home visits, and more.
One medical student and one nurse practitioner or graduate social work student will work for two weeks as a team to explore answers to questions such as: How do various members of the health team work together to keep our aging population healthy and highly functioning? What does it take to keep elderly Vermonters in their homes (responding to clinical, psychosocial, community needs)? What challenges do patients, family and the community face in caring for elders? Why have these services been set up in a community – adult day, senior centers, senior meals, assisted living, other? How do they address safety and functionality? Some reading will be required prior to the start of the rotation on topics such as: transitions of care; discharge planning; inter-professional communication; patient preferences for care in the rural community versus tertiary care settings.
Project duration: 2 weeks in June or July, with preparation work as noted above.
Stipend: $500 per student per week for two weeks (Total $1000 per student) Car is required, housing provided in private homes in southern Vermont.
Faculty advisor: Charlotte Reback
Charles MacLean MD
Associate Dean for Primary Care
Judy Wechsler, Educational Coordinator
Champlain Valley AHEC
Charlotte Reback
Associate Professor of Family Medicine
Bob Swartz, Educational Coordinator
Northeastern Vermont AHEC
Susan White, Educational Coordinator
Southern Vermont AHEC
Last modified January 09 2013 09:30 AM
