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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Mary E. Burman, PhD, FNP, School of Nursing, University of Wyoming, PO Box 3065, Laramie, WY 82071-3065, 307-766-3903, mburman@uwyo.edu and Colleen Hubbell, MS, LPC, Division of Medical Education, University of Wyoming, PO Box 4238, Laramie, WY 82071.
Academic-community partnerships increasingly are used to extend health care services to vulnerable populations. The clinical outcomes of such partnerships have been evaluated; however, the educational outcomes in relation to teaching and research are also important aspects of these collaborative endeavors. This presentation will describe the educational outcomes of an academic-community partnership through the Downtown Clinic, a free clinic that uses volunteer health care professionals to provide primary care to uninsured persons in a Rocky Mountain community. The clinic was developed by a broad-based community coalition representing local service agencies, the hospital, the public health agency, physicians and the local university. The clinic has been open 2˝ years and its volunteers have provided care to over 900 uninsured persons. Faculty and students from nursing, pharmacy, social work, medicine, health sciences, psychology and business have been an integral part of the clinic in clinical, management and research roles since the initial stages of the partnership. The educational outcomes of the partnership include student and faculty perceptions of their experiences, the impact of the partnership on curricula, and evaluation of research conducted at the clinic or involving its clients. Both faculty and students derive satisfaction from their experience in this unique interdisciplinary health care setting. The teamwork established at the clinic provides a forum for examining curricula across several disciplines. Student and faculty research on self-care perceptions of clients, nurse practitioner-physician communication, and clinical outcomes of the clinic have been completed. Academic-community partnerships can be a vital part of a university’s educational mission.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Partnerships, Education
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.