Saint Louis University: Undergraduate Community Practicum
Member since: July 2016
Intervention: Undergraduate Community Practicum: Preparing health professions students as collaboration ready team members to improve community and population health
Partners:
- Saint Louis University Center for Interprofessional Education and Research
- Saint Louis University School of Nursing
- Saint Louis University Doisy College of Health Sciences
- 25 community-based agencies and partners in the St. Louis metro area
Occupations represented: Students and professionals from nursing, physical therapy, athletic training, occupational therapy, magnetic resonance imaging, radiation therapeutics, nuclear medicine technology, nutrition and dietetics, and pre-medical students.
Overview: This practicum course places approximately 30 teams of students representing nursing, physical therapy, athletic training, occupational therapy, magnetic resonance imaging, radiation therapeutics, nuclear medicine technology, nutrition and dietetics, and pre-medical students with community-based agencies. These agencies target medically under-served and/or disadvantaged populations, and examples include Red Cross, the American Diabetes Association, St. Louis Area Agency on Aging, and the St. Louis Asthma and Allergy Foundation. Each team contains 5 students and supports or implements a project that furthers the mission of its assigned agency. Students build skills in project development and implementation and learn how agency services support promotion of health and wellness. St. Louis University offers a concentration and a minor in Interprofessional Practice, and this practicum is part of both programs.
Student outcomes include increased ability to recognize and define population health needs. Data are collected from project workplans, critical reflections, and a pre/post Team Fitness Test. Agency satisfaction is captured using a custom survey instrument.
Intervention study question:
- Does a community-based practicum experience improve students’ skills and competencies in interprofessional in community settings and for addressing population health?