Regions Equitable and Affordable Community Health Program (REACH)

Program Overview

Considering REACH?

REACH is a program combining some of the elements of a longitudinal program with some elements of standard block rotations.
REACH is looking for flexible, motivated students who are interested in learning and experiencing more about the social determinants of health.
Interested students should have strong time management skills and a willingness to break up the traditional block rotation structure.

2019 video from the pre-pandemic era:

Location

Regions Hospital
640 Jackson St. St Paul, MN 55101

Important Dates

Information Session(s):
- 12:00-1:00 Thursday, October 28, 2021
- A replay will be linked here and available to all students after the session has concluded.
Applications Due: 11:59 pm November 28, 2021
Interviews:
- December - January
Notification of acceptance: January 26, 2022 @ 2 pm
Clerkship: ~June/July - ~April/May
- Onboarding: March - June
- Orientation: July 2022

About Regions Hospital

Regions Hospital is a Level 1 Trauma and tertiary care center for the east metro and western Wisconsin, Regions is a private, non-profit, safety-net hospital, providing outstanding care in women's health, heart, cancer, surgery, trauma, orthopedics, neuroscience, burn, emergency care and more.

Advantages of the REACH Program

Increased focus on population health and the social determinants of health
Longitudinal patient experiences with those at greatest risk in our community
Participation in teaching services from Internal Medicine, Surgery, OB/Gyn, Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine, and Neurology
Specialized curricula focusing on QI, health disparities, population health, and advocacy
Students will be at Regions for most of the academic year, and therefore will enjoy hands-on experiences directly with faculty resulting in greater independence and less observation
Longitudinal mentorship with 2-3 preceptors
Students will work with REACH co-directors to complete a QI project of the student's choosing ready for presentation at a peer-reviewed conference
REACH students will have the opportunity to advocate legislatively

REACH will allow students to:

Follow patients across different venues of care and help function as advocates, coaches, and care managers for those patients
Work with preceptors in hospital medicine, home-based medicine, and psychiatry with interest in population health and social determinants of health
Develop an individualized clinical elective in an area of student's choice
Volunteer at Higher Ground Homeless Shelter and Medical Respite in St. Paul

Educational Themes

Program Objectives

REACH is a 9-10-month, 33-39 credit, longitudinal integrated clerkship for third-year medical students from the University of Minnesota Medical School at Regions Hospital. REACH LIC facilitates examining the impact of social determinants of health on the general health and well-being of our patients in our surrounding community.

While at Regions, students will work through core clinical clerkships and will receive additional training in ways social influences such as poverty, homelessness, drug use and mental illness impact the physical health of our patients.

See the syllabus for specific objectives.

Throughout REACH LIC

Clerkships:

Students are assigned to dedicated preceptors for OB/GYN clinic, Internal Medicine clinic, Hospitalist, and Home Health and work with these faculty 1:1 during clinic and inpatient medicine.
Other clerkships are completed in smaller blocks. For example, Psychiatry is split into 2 inpatient weeks plus 1 week in the emergency department's acute care area. These smaller blocks generally are not scheduled back-to-back within a specialty (For example students may be scheduled for 1 week of Neurology, 1 week of OB/GYN clinic, 1 week of Medicine wards, and then 1 week of Psychiatry inpatient).
In general students do Psychiatry, OBGYN, and Neurology earlier in the year. Medicine and longitudinal clinics are dispersed throughout the year. Surgery is scheduled in the fall and into the winter, and emergency medicine happens later in the year.

REACH QI/Population Health:

This course allows time to engage in the curriculum covering social determinants of health. This includes dedicated didactic time, QI project, book club, and volunteering at the higher ground shelter.

Students will complete workshops and didactics within their regular rotations. However, there is protected time on Tuesday afternoons for additional topics.

Students will design and complete a quality improvement project with help from faculty. This can either be done as a small group project or individually, depending on the student's interest. This allows options for a deeper inquiry into a topic of their choice, and opportunities for presentation or publication.

During the course of the year, we will read and discuss multiple books covering topics such as homelessness/eviction, the opioid crisis, race and incarceration, mental illness, and others.

Every Tuesday evening a group from REACH works at the Higher Ground shelter. This involves a combination of service and providing medical check-ins and advice for residents staying in their medical respite area

REACH students have opportunities to join the Health Partners legislative team at the Minnesota State Capitol and to engage in other advocacy activities.

REACH LIC Plus Clinical Elective

Students have the opportunity to develop a 2-4 week clinical elective in the area of their choosing. This is developed by the student and the course co-directors and usually is scheduled in the second half of the year.

Clerkships Completed

Internal Medicine	8 credits
General Surgery	4 credits
Surgery Sub-Specialties	4 credits (optional)
OB/GYN	4 credits
Neurology	4 credits
Psychiatry	4 credits
Emergency Medicine	4 credits
REACH LIC Plus Clinical Elective	2-4 credits
REACH QI/Population Health	3 credits
Total Credits Completed:	33-39 credits

Application Instructions

Please fill out your application electronically by Sunday, November 28, 2021 at 11:59 pm.

The link to the application is found on the home page of this site.

Contact Information

Beth Cliffe
REACH Coordinator
beth.g.cliffe@healthpartners.com

REACH students (2020-2021) are open to discussing the LIC.

Ginearosa Carbone (Duluth)— carbo056@d.umn.edu

Sami Gibson—gibso348@umn.edu

Katie Nelson— nels7048@umn.edu

Tou Thao— thaox507@umn.edu

Morgan Turk— turkx051@umn.edu

Julia Weston— westo100@umn.edu

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