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EDUCATION

Humanism Fellowship

Course Title: Humanism in Medicine Fellowship
Updated information as of May 2008

INTD 4015: two weeks elective credit
Length of Rotation: over the entire 4th year (longitudinal experience)
Participants: 4th year medical students
Periods Offered: extending over all periods
Maximum Students: 20
Locations: Student-run clinics at the Alpha Home and the SAMM Transitional Living and Learning Center with supervision of the faculty; Sites visited by La Frontera de Salud and the Christian Medical Dental Society.
Course Director:
Richard P. Usatine, M.D., Department of Family and Community Medicine
Mobile: 210-845-3763
Email: usatine@uthscsa.edu

Course Administrator:
Vanessa Sweet, Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics
Office: 210-567-0795 Mobile 979-417-8178
Email: sweetv@uthscsa.edu

Faculty Supervisors and Mentors:
Drs. Sarah Lapey, Kathleen Halka, James Legler, Anthony Infante, Glen Medellin, Joy Emko, Ashok Kumar

Prerequisites:
Students must have volunteered at the student-run clinics before the 4th year. Students that have participated on the steering committee will have first choice in the sign-up process.

Course Objectives:

Educational objectives for participants:

At the conclusion of this year long elective, students will be able to:

  • Provide medical service and compassionate care to vulnerable populations
  • Describe the responsibilities of running a clinic for the underserved
  • Discuss the value of community service in the life of a physician
  • Use reflection to deepen their understanding of the value of caring for others
  • Discuss the limitations of the current health care system
  • Advocate for improvements in our health care system

Additional objectives of the elective are to:

  • Provide service-learning experiences for our medical students
  • Broaden the clinical skills of our fellows including history taking, physical examination, assessment, treatment and counseling
  • Improve health care to persons with addictions by providing opportunities for medical students to learn about the disease of addiction, recovery and relapse prevention

Course Description:
This is a longitudinal 4th year elective to support and nourish the inherent altruism of our students. This elective will bring together like-minded students and faculty who have a passion for caring for the medically underserved in their communities. The students will take a leadership role in managing and directing the student-run clinics at the Alpha Home and the SAMM Transitional Living and Learning Center under faculty supervision. Clinical experiences will be at these clinics and on trips with Frontera de Salud or the Christian Medical Dental Society to the Colonias of South Texas.

The elective will include monthly seminars in which students and faculty meet to discuss their experiences and projects in the clinics.

Requirement and Contact Hours:
48 hours of clinical time (12 clinical sessions x 4 hours credit/clinic session)
Up to 16 hours may be served by volunteering with Frontera de Salud or the Christian Medical Dental Society medical mission trips to the border.
Each mission trip qualifies for 8 hours of time.

12 hours from 6 seminars required (8 sessions offered, 2 hours each —the last 2 sessions are during Senior Didactics and are required for everyone) Dinner at 6 pm and seminar from 6:30 to 8:30. Students will help choose the seminar topics and speakers.

20 hours for student projects — each student will be involved in a project that will advance the quality of the student-run clinics. Previous project areas have included: dental, immunizations, medication dispensing, Night of the Arts and fundraising. New projects are welcome. Students will need to provide a one paragraph description of what they accomplished over the year to account for the 20 hours of credit. These projects will be discussed briefly at each seminar to keep everyone on target.

Students must complete an online survey at the end of the elective documenting their reflections over the year.

Means of Evaluation:
Each student will receive a final letter grade in April of their senior year.

Final evaluation will be based on:

  1. Clinical evaluation from faculty supervisors at the student-run clinics.
  2. Evaluation of written reflections.
  3. Evaluation of the student's project.

2 weeks of credit
Fourth year students will enroll in this experience as a longitudinal elective that runs throughout their fourth year. Two weeks of credit will be earned for a minimum of 80 hours of time spent over the year.