Sustaining Community Partnerships as a Foundation for Scholarship

1
Sustaining Community Partnerships as a Foundation
for Scholarship Office of Community
Health Scholarly Concentration in Community
Health Stanford School of Medicine
Community Partner Summit
Research
Background
Education

• Scholarly Concentration in Community Health
• Core educational program affiliated with OCH
• Most popular of twelve medical student majors
• Students self-select to focus their studies on
  community health scholarship

• Community Partnership Medical Scholars
• Since 2002, the CPMS program has provided grants
  to qualified medical students to pursue scholarly
  research in community health. Research proposals
  must
• respond to a community-based organization's
  information needs
• be designed to have a specific and measurable
  impact on community health policy and practice
• meet rigorous methodological standards and
  advance knowledge
• Thirty-three CPMS students have published in
  national journals and presented at national and
  international conferences. Examples include
• Soller M, Osterberg L. Missed opportunities for
  patient education and social worker consultation
  at The Arbor Free Clinic. Journal of Health Care
  for the Poor and Underserved, 2004.
• Matin M, LeBaron S. Attitudes toward cervical
  cancer screening among Muslim women A pilot
  study. Women And Health, 2004.
• Trivedi K, Kiernan M. Prevalence of anemia and
  low body weight among reproductive-aged urban
  women of low-socioeconomic status in Ahmedabad,
  India. Poster presented at the 2nd International
  Conference on Urban Health, 2003.

In Fall 2005, convened representatives from 10
agencies with history of Stanford collaboration.

• History of Community Partnerships at Stanford
  School of Medicine
• Long history of community health and public
  service involvement by School of Medicine
  students, faculty and staff.
• Many programs that share the ideal of meeting
  community-identified needs through meaningful
  partnerships.
• Partnership Challenges The Need for Better
  Coordination at Stanford
• Partnerships and partner fundraising not
  coordinated at an institutional level
• Projects often driven more by student interest
  than by community-defined needs
• Many one-time projects that lack sustainability
• Limited number of faculty mentors for
  community-based scholarship

SCCH Mission To empower future physicians to
improve the health of diverse communities and
reduce health inequities through innovative
scholarship and community engagement.
Medical student Mina Matin (right) presents her
Community Partnership Research Project at the
Annual Fall Forum on Community Health and Public
Service. Khaliah Johnson (left) presented her
work with Ethiopian immigrants.

• OCH-supported Service-Learning
• As part of its effort to support and maintain
  community partnerships at the School of Medicine,
  the OCH provides both personnel and financial
  support to the following courses
• Community Health Assessment Research Methods
  Course Series
• Two-quarter series of four courses providing
  students with instruction in community health
  assessment and methodological skills training.
  Skills are applied in small-group projects
  identified by community partners.
• Example projects
• Assessing Health Needs of Adolescents in
  Communities of Color in San Jose
• Assessing Indoor Air Quality and Childhood
  Asthma Rates in East Palo Alto Schools
• Practice of Medicine Advocacy Projects
• All first year medical students work in small
  groups to develop and implement advocacy projects
  in collaboration with community partners.
• Example projects

Strategizing with community partners
http//med.stanford.edu/chps

• Summit Objectives
• Review past partnership successes/challenges
• Clarify Stanford service-learning structures
  (courses, fellowship programs) and resources
• Define rules of engagement for partnerships
• Generate list of potential partnership projects
• Main Feedback from Partners
• Positive
• Many students energetic, committed, productive
• Appreciate link to Stanford resources (research
  support, media, facilities, etc.)
• Project work and products often made real
  contributions to organizational mission
• Works best when there is a staff person serving
  as liaison to student(s)
• Challenges
• Roles, project goals objectives not always
  clear
• Students do not always know much about partners
• Some students lack maturity, professionalism,
  accountability, humility
• Uneven communication among Stanford faculty,
  students and partners
• Not always clear whom to call with problems

• MD-MPH Dual Degree Program with UC Berkeley
• An extension of the Scholarly Concentration in
  Community Health. Shared requirements across
  programs allow students to
• integrate and apply their public health training
  perspective throughout their medical education
• complete original community partnership research
  projects advised by faculty at Stanford UCB

The Office of Community Health

• Inaugurated by Dean Philip Pizzo in Fall 2005
• Seed funding from the Deans Office and from the
  Valley Foundation
• Staffing includes part-time Faculty Director and
  Program Director, and full-time Community
  Partnership Coordinator

Developing a Population Health Curriculum In
February 2005, the AAMC awarded Stanford with a
grant to develop a multi-year population health
curriculum for all medical students. In
collaboration with local Departments of Public
Health and other community partners, the OCH and
key Stanford faculty are working to design a new
curriculum that will include both didactic
instruction and community-based practica.
Future Directions
OCH Mission To foster and support
community-responsive scholarship, advocacy, and
public service aimed at improving the health of
underserved populations.

• Expand and enrich community partnerships
• Continue to build faculty mentor network
• Increase collaboration across Stanford programs
• Develop campus-wide partnership database
• Organize workshops on community health and
  scholarship for partners and Stanford staff
• Pursue collaborative fundraising opportunities

• http//och.stanford.edu
• Key internal Stanford collaborators
• Haas Center for Public Service
• Center of Excellence in Diversity
• Center for Education in Family and Community
  Medicine
• Cardinal Free Clinics
• Program in Human Biology

Acknowledgments
The work done by The Office of Community Health
would not be possible without the generous
support of the Deans Office at the Stanford
School of Medicine, The Valley Foundation, The
Health Trust, Anne and Gerald Down, and the AAMC.