Robust Interprofessional Clinical Education and Practice to Improve Health Equity
Author(s):
Jean A Davison*, Marianne Cockroft, Leigh Mullen and Leslie Sharpe
The purpose of this paper is to highlight innovative interprofessional clinical learning opportunities at a Nurse-led Mobile Health Clinic (MHC) that prepares nursing students and allied health students to care for diverse populations with a focus on screening for the social determinants of health (SDOH) and acting on positive screens. Our Nurse-led MHC provides free health screenings in partnership with food pantries and crisis ministries in urban and rural areas. We also provide self-management support classes for those with hypertension and/or diabetes.
Food insecurity is a risk factor for malnutrition, obesity, chronic diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, kidney disorders, and mental health problems. Our MHC screens for the SDOH such as food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of transportation, with referrals in place for positive screens. When looking at health equity in America, lower-income individuals, such as those that access food pantries, report their health status at lower levels than high-income earners, yet only 58% of healthcare organizations consider heath equity as a topthree priority, hence a need for education and innovation in healthcare to improve health.
Interprofessional education and practice (IPEP) along with experiential learning provides opportunities for students from many disciplines to work together as a collaborative team and provides both service to the community (high quality healthcare) and learning for the students. Our community partners and across campus students consists of many disciplines that includes nursing, social workers, nutritionists, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, health educators and language interpreters. Our undergraduate and graduate students have opportunities to volunteer, do clinical hours, practicums, self-management support classes and quality improvement (QI) projects with our faculty at our IPEP free health clinic.
Overall students’ reflections from these practicum experiences support a deeper understanding on how food insecurity, homelessness and other SDOH impact one’s physical, mental, and spiritual well-being (Cockroft et al., 2020). Nursing and IPEP does have a critical role to play in achieving the goal of health equity, and our MHC provides the opportunity for robust education!
