|
| |
|
Wisconsin AHEC Program Overview |
|
|
The Wisconsin AHEC System works to improve the supply, distribution, diversity and quality of health care professionals in Wisconsin, thereby improving access to health care in the state's rural and urban underserved areas. Program areas include the following:
- Enhancing the learning experience for all health professions students at community-based sites, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary programs, developing cultural competence, and technology support.
- Supporting health careers recruitment programs in underserved rural and urban areas, to assist high school and college students from underrepresented populations prepare for entry into health professions schools.
- Supporting faculty mentors and preceptors at community-based training sites with continuing education, technology support and other services to enhance the practice environment and maximize the ability of health professionals in underserved communites to provide high quality health care.
- Partnering with local organizations in a variety of outreach activities to improve the health of the community.
Wisconsin AHEC Programming 2005-2008
The programming priorities for 2005-2008 were developed through a collaborative planning process with the Wisconsin AHEC System Board, the regional Boards and our community and academic partners. They represent the areas identified as most important in addressing state and national health and educational priorities. The Wisconsin AHEC System activities will focus on four main program areas during the next three years. A combination of state, institutional and other funding sources will support our core operations and ongoing programming as detailed in the consolidated budget statements.
The Wisconsin AHEC System has been most successful by using its limited resources to focus on innovative programs, leveraging the resources of our academic and community partners to address the AHEC mission. The programming objectives for 2005-2008 do not represent a major change in our focus. Rather, we have reviewed our activities to date, clearly identified our key program areas, and focused on objectives that reflect emerging health care needs. The four Wisconsin AHEC Centers and the statewide program office have developed proposals specifically to address these priorities. |
2005-2008 Wisconsin AHEC Program Objectives
|
Program Area 1
Enhancing the learning experience for all health professions students at community-based sites, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary programs, developing cultural competence, and technology support. |
Objectives for Program Area 1
- Develop new or expand current community-based training sites in each region, with a focus on sites with potential for implementing an interprofessional curriculum.
- Implement an interprofessional curriculum at selected sites.
- Continue to support development and delivery of cultural competence activities in health professions training programs
- Support the Longitudinal Rural Rotation for UW medical students and the remaining Rural Training Track residency program sites, as well as the development of the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine.
- Continue to support technology for distance delivery of core curriculum to community-based training sites
- Continue to emphasize collaborations with community health centers, assisting them in developing capacity as training sites and in sharing their health disparities collaborative (HDC) and chronic disease management model with training programs.
- Collaborate with the Wisconsin HETC projects to expand health professions student exposure to the community health worker model.
- As a part of student community-based experiences, support development of curricula addressing chronic illness management, disparities collaboratives, clinical prevention, population health and public health policy.
|
Program Area 2
Supporting health careers recruitment programs, to assist high school and college students to prepare for entry into health professions schools and careers, with particular emphasis on under-represented populations and underserved areas.
|
Objectives for Program Area 2
- Focus K-12 health careers new program funding on intensive programs for middle and high school students from underserved or underrepresented populations.
- Maintain health careers outreach programs to a wide audience (K-12 through adult) through the activities of the staff of each Center.
- Develop mentoring and other programs to support minority and disadvantaged students currently enrolled in college and technical school health professions programs.
- Continue to support the work of agencies and academic programs to develop career paths that would enable minority and disadvantaged students to enter the health professions workforce and maintain their employment while pursuing additional education and training to advance to positions of greater responsibility.
|
Program Area 3
Supporting health professionals, especially mentors and preceptors at community-based training sites, with continuing education, technology support and other services, thereby enhancing the practice environment and maximizing the ability of health professionals in underserved communities to provide high quality health care and excellent clinical supervision for students. |
Objectives for Program Area 3
- Support academic programs in providing preceptor/faculty development for community –based training sites, particularly for programs to increase the number masters-prepared nurses trained to serve as clinical preceptors at community-based sites.
- Expand continuing education for health professionals, including rural providers and FQHC/CHC staff, particularly through the further development of the collaborative Virtual Rounds program and with an emphasis on implementation of evidence-based practice.
- Extend cultural competence programming, with a focus on health care providers, social service and public health agencies, developing programs to ensure participation from a cross section of providers and social service agencies, enriching the discussion through different perspectives.
- Continue collaboration with the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health to meet the continuing education needs of Critical Access Hospitals, with a particular focus on quality improvement and patient safety initiatives.
- Support the efforts of the Wisconsin Coalition for Linguistic Access to Healthcare in educating providers and agencies about the appropriate use of medical interpreters.
- Continue to support programs extending access to web-based health information resources to providers in areas remote from academic medical centers.
- Coordinate information about continuing education offerings for public health professionals, particularly in the area of public health emergency preparedness.
|
Program Area 4
Partnering with local organizations for outreach activities to improve the health of the community.
|
Objectives for Program Area 4
- Collaborate with the Dept. of Health and Family Services on implementation of the state health plan, Healthy Wisconsin 2010.
- Develop evidence-based programs for health education outreach to vulnerable populations and provide support for community health worker and health literacy programs.
- Continue to assist communities in the development of proposals for new community health centers and other safety-net programs.
- Assist communities in developing proposals for health outreach program funding through the UW and MCW Partnership Fund for a Healthy Future (Blue Cross conversion funds) and other organizations.
|
