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Monday, 18 November 2013
Learning Objective 1: describe a community-university model of care for health promotion / disease prevention
Learning Objective 2: describe the use of service-learning and independent study in developing students for the roles of community education and outreach for underserved populations
A community-university partnership, whose focus is on underserved populations, demonstrates how undergraduate nursing students and graduate physical therapy students can take the lead in health promotion / disease prevention initiatives. In an interdisciplinary collaborative project between physical therapy service-learning students, and nursing students involved in independent study spanning a two-year period, the nursing students moved from a role of assisting people with pre-diabetes / diabetes in learning survival skills, to organizing and administering program needs. Physical therapy students transitioned from observing their faculty leading the exercise portion, and spotting at-risk participants, to leading the activity and assisting nursing students in spotting. Inter-professional collaboration within the university setting is complimented by an inter-professional approach, with the community health center and public health department providing program space, equipment storage, incentives and the services of a nurse diabetes educator and dietician. Nursing student responsibilities include teaching meter usage to the physical therapy students; soliciting program supplies; calling registrants; arranging transportation; discussing trends, causes, and management of blood sugars / blood pressures; checking on absent participants; preparing and serving a participant-selected healthy lunch; providing weekly healthy snacks; organizing participant celebrations (Halloween, American Diabetes Walk); and preparing care provider letters designed to individually address how each participant is meeting diabetes care guidelines. The activities empower the participants with self-care skills, result in A1C outcomes that surpass standard diabetes programs, and empower the students as leaders. The program is transformational and offers the students opportunities and possibilities that span the roles of diabetes educators, inter-professional partners, and community leaders. It is a model of care that bridges public health with the university setting, offering services of advance practitioners, providing service learning to students, and providing excellent care to the community.