Emergency Health Care Preparedness for Rural Communities

Catalog description

This Emergency Preparedness clerkship is scheduled with a preceptor who has experience working with the affected rural community. The student will participate in a cultural immersion week involving traditional knowledge scholars, familiarize herself/himself with the culture, review articles on the impact of the illness in the community, familiarize themselves on the illness, and potential impact of medical needs exceeding available immediate resources. The learner will develop an understanding of the reporting lines of patient care in a pandemic or disaster scenario while experiencing/observing the day to day activities of an emergency response center. Exposure to community leaders and patients will give the student opportunities to practice culturally responsive interviewing skills, documentation, and patient presentations. These activities help develop students’ clinical reasoning and understand the importance of physician involvement and leadership in crisis preparedness. The students may be afforded by the preceptor the opportunity to participate in procedures as the preceptor determines his/her readiness. The curriculum for this rotation is based on several sources including recent academic publications, FEMA, state guidelines and on physician preparedness.