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The OU Community Health Alliance: A Qualitative Review

Brandon Moritz; Ishak Hossain; Dale Bratzler DO, MPH

University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, OK

Introduction

The OU Community Health Alliance

The OU Community Health Alliance (OUCHA) is an organization of medical students who aim to better the healthcare system in Oklahoma City. Through volunteerism, we work to uplift, educate, and empower patients. OUCHA exposes students to the challenges of providing health care with limited resources, while developing more compassionate and empathetic healthcare professionals.

Importance

Curriculum

Community Health (CH) I

8 Community Involvement Hours
12 Health Education Hours
60 Clinic Hours
Reflection Essay

Community Health II

Completion of CH I requirements
An additional 20 Clinic Hours

Results

Clinic Exposure

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

References

Figure 1. A group of 7 reviewers completed a qualitative analysis of Class of 2019 and 2020 OUCHA reflection essay (n=119). Each essay was read by two different reviewers and assessed according to four different characteristics: Understanding of Challenges, Interest in Working with MUA/Ps, Enhanced Curriculum, and Increased Interest in Advocacy. Figure 2. A report was created of volunteer hour data from OUCHA’s student portal for the Class of 2019 and 2020, which shows the total number of community, education and clinic hours completed by each class.

Student Led Initiatives Under Curriculum

Bridges to Access: A student organized conference about barriers in healthcare

OUCHA also approves events by other student interest groups on campus to fulfill credit hour criteria. For the academic year 2018-2019, OUCHA approved 112 student-led events eligible for credit hours.

Stop The Bleed: A partnership with OU’s Trauma Dpt. to deliver bleed-control training

Health Fairs: A curriculum for healthy lifestyles for elementary students

Health Dash: An annual 5K that benefits OUCHA’s partner clinics

CARE Workshop: A resource to educate students about caring for underserved populations

Access to adequate healthcare in medically underserved areas / populations (MUA/Ps) is one of the greatest challenges of public health.¹

Medically underserved includes: low socioeconomic status (SES), low access to healthcare resources and nutrition, and/or no medical insurance coverage.

Goals of the Curriculum²

Develop a deeper understanding of MUAs and the challenges facing underinsured and uninsured patients
Strengthen desire to serve MUAs as a future physician
Provide the skills and learning experiences needed to provide high quality care in low resource settings

Skills Required to Serve the Medically Underserved³

Identify unexpressed needs
Appreciate local epidemiologic factors
Knowledge of community resources
Advocate for patients
Recognize cultural and lingual differences

Li, L. B. (1995). Practicing with the urban underserved. A qualitative analysis of motivations, incentives, and disincentives. Archives of Family Medicine, 4(2), 124–133. doi: 10.1001/archfami.4.2.124
Walker, K. O., Ryan, G., Ramey, R., Nunez, F. L., Beltran, R., Splawn, R. G., & Brown, A. F. (2010). Recruiting and Retaining Primary Care Physicians in Urban Underserved Communities: The Importance of Having a Mission to Serve. American Journal of Public Health, 100(11), 2168–2175. doi: 10.2105/ajph.2009.181669
Reilly, B. M., Schiff, G., & Conway, T. (1998). Part II. Primary care for the medically underserved: Challenges and opportunities. Disease-a-Month, 44(7), 320–346. doi: 10.1016/s0011-5029(98)90011-6

15 free and charitable clinics in Oklahoma City have partnered with OUCHA to allow students to volunteer
Students serve diverse patient populations, as evidenced by half our partner clinics providing care for primarily Spanish-speaking individuals, two clinics providing care for a large number of Vietnamese individuals, and one clinic providing care for many Muslim individuals
Outside of primary care, multiple medical specialty services are offered by the clinics including: wound care, pain management, OB/GYN, ophthalmology, psychiatry, cardiology, endocrinology, pediatrics, orthopedics, pulmonology, nephrology, and dermatology
Students also take part in volunteering in associated pharmacy dispensaries, food pantries, and community centers

The OUCHA curriculum has delivered skills and knowledge necessary to successfully navigate caring for underserved populations
The OUCHA curriculum has expanded medical students’ desire to continue serving with MUCs, with over half expressing increased interest
The OUCHA has created a platform for students to propose new ideas to better serve patients and has provided resources for students to lead these new initiatives
The curriculum modeled by OUCHA may be easily replicated in other medical education institutions to enhance learning not readily available in a classroom or ward-based setting

We would like to recognize Marielle Crowells, Katie Gerth, Rachel Jordan, Elizabeth Lanham, and Mary Porter for contributing to data collection. A special thanks is due to the faculty and student leaders who have worked hard to make OUCHA the impactful program that it is today.

TOTAL: 9793

TOTAL: 8159

Figure 1

Figure 2

Student Quotes

"My goal in the future is to be a family physician for a rural, underserved community, and I am unsure if I would have come to the same conclusion if I had not had those volunteering opportunities."

"I want to champion for better healthcare access to populations that desperately need care and push for governmental change that helps communities struggling to cover the costs of medicine..."

“The experience, overall, demonstrated that it is not enough to simply know the medicine; in addition, it is absolutely necessary to know your community...”

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Abstract

Abstract submitted to APAMSA 2021

The OU Community Health Alliance (OUCHA) is both an organization of medical students at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine (OUCOM) and an elective course that aims to better the healthcare system in Oklahoma City through volunteerism. OUCHA exposes students to the challenges of providing healthcare with limited resources, while developing more compassionate and empathetic healthcare professionals. By partnering with fifteen free and charitable clinics throughout the Oklahoma City area, students have the opportunity to work with diverse patient populations. Some specific skills and knowledge that OUCHA attempts to impart on its students include identifying unexpressed needs and understanding available community resources. Aside from clinical volunteering, OUCHA also sponsors numerous student-led initiatives, including a conference about barriers to healthcare and educating elementary students in healthy lifestyles. Self-reported data from OUCOM students show that OUCHA nearly unanimously increases students’ understanding of challenges that underserved patients face and unanimously enhances the medical school curriculum offered at OUCOM. Over half of students participating in OUCHA report that their volunteering has increased their own interest in serving underserved patients. Anecdotal evidence shows that some students feel strongly about OUCHA’s ability to impart a sense of importance and value in treating patients beyond the narrow scope of medicine and instead understand the community and its needs more broadly. The curriculum modeled by OUCHA may be easily replicated in other medical education institutions to enhance learning not readily available in a classroom or ward-based setting. - Ishak Hossain

Updated Abstract:

The OU Community Health Alliance (OUCHA) is a medical student organization structured within an elective course that aims to better the healthcare system in Oklahoma City through volunteerism. OUCHA exposes students to the challenges of providing healthcare with limited resources, while developing more compassionate and empathetic healthcare professionals. By partnering with fifteen free and charitable clinics throughout the Oklahoma City area, students have the opportunity to work with diverse patient populations. Some specific skills and knowledge that OUCHA attempts to impart on its students include identifying unexpressed needs and understanding available community resources. Aside from clinical volunteering, OUCHA also sponsors numerous student-led initiatives, including a conference about barriers to healthcare and educating elementary students in healthy lifestyles. Self-reported data from OUCOM students show that OUCHA nearly unanimously increases students’ understanding of challenges that underserved patients face and unanimously enhances the medical school curriculum offered at OUCOM. Over half of students participating in OUCHA report that their volunteering has increased their own interest in serving underserved patients. Anecdotal evidence shows that some students feel strongly about OUCHA’s ability to impart a sense of importance and value in treating patients beyond the narrow scope of medicine and instead understand the community and its needs more broadly. The curriculum modeled by OUCHA may be easily replicated in other medical education institutions to enhance learning not readily available in a classroom or ward-based setting. - Ishak Hossain

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