Firsthand experience and a strong sense of purpose are the cornerstones of service learning at the College of Medicine.
By Jim Burwitz
“I am starving!”
When was the last time you uttered those three simple words?
Maybe it was on a busy Monday that didn’t allow time for lunch. Perhaps it was during a long flight without meal service. As hungry as you were on that occasion, imagine what it must be like to go several days without so much as a bowl of rice for you and your children.
During a recent trip to Haiti, Dr. Sara Rusch met more than her share of families in that exact situation.
A Matter Of Survival
Earlier this summer, Dean Rusch and a group of Central Illinois volunteers took a 12-day medical mission trip to a poverty-torn region in Haiti. Starvation, malnutrition, and disease are a painful way of life for too many Haitian families. Their very survival is highly dependent on the benevolence of volunteer caregivers.
In 1985, Friends of the Children of Haiti (FOTCOH) started to provide supplies and basic healthcare services to the Haitian people. Today, more than 100 volunteers have joined forces with FOTCOH to make regular trips to Haiti and support the development of new teams.
One such contributor is Dr. Joseph Baumgart, who graduated from UICOMP in 1979. A dedicated member of the Peoria Medical Alumni Council (PMAC) and longtime supporter of medical mission trips to Haiti, it was Dr. Baumgart who pitched the idea of connecting FOTCOH and the College of Medicine.
His passion for the Haitian program made an immediate impact on Dr. Rusch and UICOMP’s academic leaders. As a result, they wanted to take a firsthand look at the important work FOTCOH does, and at the same time explore the possibilities for collaboration and education.
“We live in a global world in which people travel across borders quite readily,” says Dr. Carol Packard, UICOMP’s Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. “Physicians need to be knowledgeable about identifying and treating illness that may not be common here. In addition, we have local patients from many different cultures. Exposure to how culture affects healthcare makes for better healthcare outcomes.”
Today, Dr. Packard and Dr. Rusch are working closely with FOTCOH and PMAC to establish a yearly trip to Haiti that would include medical students, residents, faculty, and alumni. If successful, the annual trek could become part of UICOMP’s regular curriculum for fourth-year medical students.
“Currently, specific learning-objective and teaching strategies are being developed enabling students and residents to gain academic credit for this experience,” Dr. Packard explains. “This service project is one of many vehicles to achieve UICOMP’s mission. The participants will learn from each other while providing much needed care and medicine to the people of Haiti.”
Lessons In Community Care
An ongoing UICOMP program based on the same concept of “serving to learn” is the Rural Student Physician Program (RSPP).
Introduced by the Department of Family and Community Medicine in 1997, RSPP is an extended preceptorship option for select third-year students. The 28-week program was created to increase the number of medical students who choose careers in primary medicine and then decide to practice in rural communities. Now in its 13th year, RSPP has helped 65 UICOMP students learn the value of community-based clinical medicine.
“The original goals of the program included an increase in rural physicians and physicians in primary care specialties,” says Dr. Jim Barnett, RSPP Program Director. “So far, the program has demonstrated this with about 70 percent of alumni in practice in rural areas. About 70 percent of these alumni are in primary care specialties.”
The program begins with an extensive introductory training period, which is held on campus. Upon completing the first phase, students literally learn, work, and live in rural Illinois settings such as Tremont, Princeton, Pontiac, and Galesburg. The goal is to immerse the students in these close-knit communities.
RSPP integrates elements of family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. Students learn through one-on-one teaching opportunities with the various physician instructors. They are expected to see up to 10 patients per day, round in hospitals and nursing homes, assist in procedures, and manage unscheduled events such as walk-ins and deliveries.
“RSPP is a very innovative program,” Dr. Barnett notes. “Our students generally emerge well prepared for residency. The hands-on nature lends itself to students’ self-discovery of their strengths. The rural communities receive a boost to medical education and have an opportunity to try and recruit a potential student.”
Each student must complete a research paper that is focused on a specific health problem or community-based clinical concern. Oral presentations of the scholarly projects are given to faculty, residents, staff, alumni, and guests during the annual RSPP Research Day. This is an opportunity to celebrate the conclusion of another busy year and discuss plans for future service.
Serving As A Leader
Additional UICOMP initiatives that emphasize service-based learning include the Manual High School Enrichment Program, the Health Education Awareness and Resource Teams Program, and the Living Healthy Series. Besides educating the community on important healthcare topics and preventive strategies, the programs teach a deeper sense of purpose and commitment.
“Our mission is to improve healthcare in our community by serving as a leader in education, research, and patient care,” says Dr. Packard. “Our students and residents are trained to see themselves as part of an interdisciplinary healthcare team that is responsible for patient-care management.”
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