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An Interdisciplinary, Inter-institutional School-Based Training Site for Health Professional Students
Maureen R. Keefe, PhD, RN, FAAN
Janice D. Key, MD
College of Nursing
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Specific Aims:
- Provide health care services to students at Burke High School
- Teach health education to Burke students
- Increase healthy behaviors in and illness screening for Burke students
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| South Carolina has one of the nation's worst records for adolescent pregnancy, substance use and abuse, school failure, and mental illness. Although health care services may be available, teenagers tend not to use them because of limited insurance coverage, inaccessible locations and lack of confidentiality. Some of these barriers are addressed in school-based clinics. This project aims to provide health care services to teenagers at a clinic in the only public high school in the city of Charleston. In addition to providing comprehensive primary care to the Burke High School students, the project provides health education for individual patients, groups (school classes), and the community. The clinic also is an opportunity for community-based experiences for health professional students (including those in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and physician assistant programs). Minority high school students (100% of the students are African American) observe health care professionals as role models, increasing their interest in future careers in health care. The effectiveness of the services provided by the school-based clinic will be evaluated by comparing the appropriate use of emergency room services by students who use the school-based clinic and those who do not. It is also expected that this health education and health care project will result in higher rates of health promotion behaviors and illness screening for participating students |
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