How student-led curriculum is driving changes in Boston

Student leaders at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health have devised a new way to provide health care to homeless patients in Boston and advocate on their behalf. About 7,250 men, women and children are homeless in the city. Here’s how BU’s medical students are making a big difference. Students in the Homeless Health Care Curriculum at Boston University grasp difficult lessons in public health while advancing their knowledge of patient care, clinical skills and health disparities—all essential to the development of patient-centered physicians, said Theresa (Tess) Timmes, a third-year student at BU, who helped create the curriculum.  Timmes recently discussed the student-led program at the AMA’s CHANGEMEDED Conference. She said the curriculum started after she and her peers decided to align two student-led groups at their school. In the Outreach Van Project, medical students drive to different neighborhoods in Boston and offer basic necessities to homeless and underserved populations. They provide resources such as food, clothing, toiletries, dental supplies and basic medical care. The second group consists of students in the  Homeless Health Immersion Experience, a program that allows students to conduct clinical interviews with homeless patients and volunteer at clinics. Timmes said the two groups operated in parallel for years but never shared resources or united to help many of the same patients they’d treat on the Outreach Van Project ...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news