Program to Promote Health and Public Health in Pre-health Service Learners

Bellevue Hospital’s Emergency Department  (ED) summer internship Project Healthcare exposes undergraduate, graduate and post-bacc students to the realities of the healthcare field. During this ten week program participants perform clinical rotations in the ED, Operating Room, Psychiatric and Pediatric ED and Social Work to demonstrate the interdisciplinary teams that provide comprehensive care for vulnerable and underserved patients. In addition, participants observe autopsies at the New York City Office of the Medical Examiner, FDNY ambulance ride-alongs and collect clinical research data to ascertain the multifarious aspects of clinical care. By immersing students in the ED of an urban, public academic medical center participants can see first hand how social conditions, such as limited education or low socioeconomic status can impact patient’s health. Students, for example, might repeatedly observe the same homeless patient returning to the ED for public intoxication due to lack of sufficient support when discharged from the hospital. Through clinical observations participants acquire a deeper understanding of the impact of social determinants of health. To supplement and enrich these clinical experiences, participants attend a weekly meeting featuring speakers from various disciplines in the healthcare field , such as healthcare policy,homeless outreach, and medical writers imparting both empirical knowledge on issues facing healthcare and elucidating numerous facets impacting patient care. To further explore the public health and sociological issues effecting healthcare we instituted a course on public health on various public health topics. Through this clinical exposure, supplemental coursework and diverse lecture series the PHC program strives to foster more socially conscious future healthcare practitioners.