OU -TU SCHOOL OF COMMUNIT Y MEDICINE TULSA
Hillcrest Health System, George Kaiser Family Foundation and Physician Manpower Training Commission. Similar student opportunities are underway for Oklahoma City-based students. SCM students are also taking part in an expanded curriculum that includes the courses Lifestyle Medicine and Health Promotion I and II, in which they learn how food and exercise can promote better health for their patients. They spend time in a culinary medicine setting to learn how to make healthy foods appropriate for specific medical conditions, like diabetes. Students also learn that many of the health problems they encounter in patients are related to lifestyle and behavior. In turn, patients’ behaviors may be related to a history of trauma and the early use of tobacco and alcohol. Mental health services, which are increasingly being integrated into primary care settings, can help patients develop prevention and behavior change skills and make better-informed lifestyle decisions. “As family health history influences individual health, historic trauma also has direct impact on lifestyle choices,” Wen said. “We’re working to build a trauma-informed workforce, which includes building greater awareness and teaching specific communication techniques to open conversations.” Addressing the shortage of primary care services also means building relationships with much younger students, particularly those from tribal, rural and medically underserved areas. Toward that end, the HRSA grant supported the creation of a statewide outreach program. Its initiatives expose students to community health needs with the intent to foster interest in primary care as early as kindergarten and continuing through 12th grade, while another follows students into college years. Community clinicians are also being recruited to serve as mentors, sponsors and referral sources to OU’s outreach and recruitment events. In addition, tribal partners have established youth camps that spur interest in primary care careers. The final step in this strategic progression is to close the pipeline, Wen said, citing residency programs, at OU and within other systems, that train in primary care. “The idea is that new M.D.s in residency tend to remain in these communities, becoming part of a statewide network we call the Primary Care Pathways Network — graduates giving back by investing in the health of entire communities.” She added: “If we are to effectively address chronic health disparities, we must do much more than simply encourage medical students to choose residencies and careers in primary care. The HRSA grants are invaluable in supporting our efforts to innovate and implement strategies for future success.” This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $7,530,860 with 10% financed with nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. government.
Medical Informatics: Looking to the Future in Medical Education “Medical informatics, as the name suggests, is a cross-disciplinary specialty that focuses upon information management to improve clinical quality and patient outcomes,” said Blake Lesselroth, M.D. “Technology can be an important part of the solution, but healthcare is a humanistic endeavor. The information needs of the practitioner, patient and health system should guide our work.” Lesselroth, Vice Chair of the Department of Medical Informatics and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine, is an experienced clinician and informatician who believes that exposing learners to informatics can improve their practice and community health outcomes. Lesselroth’s areas of expertise include clinical decision support, quality improvement methods, and human-computer interactions. His vision and work are closely aligned with those of Juell Homco, Ph.D., MPH, the department’s Director of Research and Community Analytics. Homco leads OU-TU’s Business Intelligence team and guides the department’s research portfolio. Under the leadership of Chair David Kendrick, M.D., MPH, Lesselroth and Homco guide the department’s education and scholarship efforts. Fundamentally, the science of informatics is about creating learning health systems — responsive and community-centered healthcare processes and solutions. While medical informatics may conjure thoughts of high-tech, low-touch activities, the science is transforming healthcare by magnifying its person-centered impact. Therefore, Lesselroth and Homco work with experts from a wide range of backgrounds, including medicine, public health, computer science, engineering, design, and the humanities. On a global scale, every academic pursuit was altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many at OU, the Department of Medical Informatics quickly adapted and embraced virtual platforms to support health professional education. “As the pandemic grip tightened, we were able to take on additional students who could not participate in traditional clinical rotations,” Lesselroth said. “As a result, more students are becoming fluent in the science of informatics.” Typically, their students learn the practical role for informatics through lectures, mini-preceptorships and mentored projects. Homco explained: “During the electives and selectives, we work with learners to identify projects that match their skills, interests and career goals. This may be one of several reasons why students have been very successful with scholarship. We saw many projects become publications, poster presentations at national conferences, many held virtually.” Lesselroth credits Homco for establishing a successful program before he arrived at the School of Community Medicine. Originally, rotations were designed for medical
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