Student Project Address Access To Healthcare For Underserved

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 07 Aug 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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In a journal article released August 1 students and faculty at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School discuss the success of a service learning project created and operated by medical students in 2004 to address access to healthcare for New Brunswick's uninsured residents. The Promise Clinic: A Service Learning Approach to Increasing Access to Health Care, reports on the implementation of the Promise Clinic, which provides primary care services to clients of Elijah's Promise, Inc., most of whom are uninsured and lack conventional access to health care.

Elijah's Promise is a community organization that assists people by providing nutritious meals, a broad range of social services, health screenings, and life-skills development. Through the Promise Clinic, and under the direct supervision of volunteer licensed physicians, teams of volunteer medical students serve as primary care providers. The patients also receive, at no cost, prescription medications, basic laboratory studies, and vaccinations which are supported by grant funding. Student leaders at the clinic are responsible for recruiting patients, student doctors, and faculty to staff the clinic. They also handle grant writing and budgeting, as well as managing the day-to-day operations.

"We are very proud to have implemented this program," said Manuel Jimenz, lead author of the paper, a 2007 graduate of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a pediatric resident at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"The collaborative environment of the Promise Clinic allows the students to make a significant contribution to the community by helping those who most need access to necessary health care."

The Promise Clinic was structured by the medical students and faculty advisors using a team approach to patient care, providing opportunities to students in all four years of medical school, which enhances clinical training and most importantly ensures continuity for the patients. With the assistance of students and faculty at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, the team is tracking and reporting patient outcomes and satisfaction for continued research.

"The students' work at the Promise Clinic, both in its structure and delivery of healthcare to the uninsured, serves as an excellent model for other communities where access to healthcare is a concern," said Alfred Tallia, MD, MPH, professor and chair of family medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

"Ultimately, the continuity of care that is provided to patients is the greatest success of the clinic."

In its conclusion, the report encourages other medical schools to establish similar service learning programs to enhance medical education for students. The report says: "The student-doctor team model provides rich learning opportunities and exposure to continuity of care for students at all levels of training… Continuity experiences can provide valuable lessons, including observation of the course and treatment of disease and formation of relationships with patients (rather than complaints or disease). Such long-term interactions can create powerful bonds between a patient and a student."

The clinic uses the facilities of St. John's Family Health Center which is located across the street from Elijah's Promise. St. John's is operated by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Metuchen, N.J., and managed by medical director and primary physician Steven Levin, MD, associate professor of family medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a faculty advisor at the Promise Clinic. If a patient needs inpatient care, he/she is admitted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital under the Family Medicine service. Inpatient costs are covered in part by Charity Care, the New Jersey Hospital Care Payment Assistance Program. Physician inpatient services are donated by the physicians. The Promise Clinic is funded through the Pfizer/Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Caring for the Community award, the J. Seward Johnson Charitable Trust, as well as generous private donations.

About Robert Wood Johnson Medical School:

As one of the nation's leading comprehensive medical schools, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. In cooperation with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical school's principal affiliate, they comprise New Jersey's premier academic medical center. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 other hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Liberty Plaza, 335 George St., Ste. 2300
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
United States
rwjms.umdnj.edu