Tag Archives: health professions

$3.2-million grant supports new STAHR program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds

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A new grant-supported program will allow the School of Medicine to expand its Summer Schools program for high school students and create new programs for undergraduate and graduate students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

When it comes to attending and completing a health professions degree program, students from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds typically succeed at a far lower rate than students from strong schools with thriving communities.

The UMKC School of Medicine, in collaboration with the School of Dentistry and the School of Pharmacy, is working to change that with the aid of a recent five-year, $3.2-million grant from the United States Health Resources and Services Administration to support a partnership program designed to improve those numbers.

Students in Training, in Academia, Health and Research (STAHR) Partnership is a two-pronged initiative to increase the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering health care programs and better prepare them for success. It will continue to build up and expand on the medical school’s already successful high school Summer Scholars program and the dental school’s Admissions Enhancement Program.

Undergraduate and graduate students admitted to UMKC health professions programs have the opportunity to participate in the STAHR Ambassador program, a research-based mentoring model that uses defined principles, known as the Thomas Principles, to retain and graduate students.

Alice Arredondo, UMKC admissions director,  also serves as assistant dean of admissions at the School of Medicine. A co-investigator on the grant proposal, Arredondo said students from disadvantaged backgrounds historically experience greater challenges entering and succeeding in health care fields.

“This grant will allow us to support students in overcoming academic, economic and social barriers, while having an impact on the diversity in our educational environment and the success of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UMKC health sciences,” she said.

Nate Thomas, School of Medicine associate dean for diversity and inclusion and co-investigator, said he and Arredondo used research-based best practices for admissions, retention and graduation and work already being done at the schools of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy as a basis for their successful grant request. He added that the medical school’s quickly growing student research program played an important role.

Academic preparation and resources are lacking for many students in the Kansas City region who are interested in entering the health professions. The STAHR program is designed to address those needs and introduce students from underprivileged backgrounds to careers in health care that would otherwise seem out of reach.

“This partnership will allow us to help students develop academically, psychosocially, professionally and as leaders who can have a positive impact on the workforce and their communities,” Thomas said.

The Scholars Summer Program will offer different tracts for high school and current college students. The high school program will expand the medical school’s Summer Scholars program that began in 1980 for students to explore career opportunities in health care and prepare them to enter and succeed in college. The grant allows this program to extend from two to six weeks, and provides increased focus on recruiting and retaining students interested in health care fields. The undergraduate program will also be six-weeks and with increased experiences in a clinical setting, supplemental instruction in the sciences, research opportunities, and reinforced skill development to support student academic progression and retention.

The year-round Ambassador Program for undergraduate and professional students will focus on student development. A tiered cluster mentoring framework with faculty members, residents, practitioners and upper-class college students, provides leadership and career development to further prepare younger college and professional students for success in post-graduate residencies and the health professions workforce.

“By providing students early access to hands-on programming and mentoring, we are focused on preparing students to achieve success in college and, eventually, graduate or professional school and the workforce,” Arredondo said.

Patricia Marken, Pharm.D., F.C.C.P., associate dean for student affairs at the School of Pharmacy, said the grant supports programs that will help produce health care professionals that are in demand.

“This grant increases the chance for talented students to achieve a career that is personally fulfilling, positively impacts communities and provides financial security for their own family,” she said. “The School of Pharmacy is excited to be a part of this grant and partner with our colleagues in the UMKC Health Sciences District.”

HRSA highlighted the collaborative partnership between the schools as a strength.

“I am really excited about the inter-professional opportunities for our dental and dental hygiene students to build relationships with students pursuing other health care careers,” Melanie Simmer-Beck, professor and director of the School of Dentistry Admission Enhancement Program, said.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies, while not part of the funding proposal, did help in framing the initial steps of the grant, Thomas said. It does offer similar federal-grant funded programming for high school and college students, including KC HealthTracks, providing mentorship and programs for more than a dozen area high schools.

Summer Scholars puts area students on track for careers in health care

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Students from Kansas City area high schools took part in the 38th year of the UMKC School of Medicine Summer Scholars Program in July.

Sade-joy Dugbo had an idea that a career in health care might be part of her future. After spending the last week of July in the UMKC School of Medicine’s Advance Summer Scholars program, she’s convinced.

As she prepared for her senior year at Kansas City’s Notre Dame de Sion High School, Dugbo joined a group of nearly 85 area high school juniors and seniors taking part in a one- or two-week experience in the health care profession.

“Actually, seeing what it’s like to be a medical student, seeing first-hand what they do, what the doctors do, has really changed my view of what the medical field is like,” Dugbo said.

Didactic classroom sessions are part of the two-week Summer Scholars experience.

For 38 years, the Summer Scholars program has provided minority and disadvantaged students in the Kansas City metropolitan area the opportunity to find out first-hand what a career in health care looks like. The program also prepares them to be successful as they move from high school to college.

Students take part in a two-week session of Summer Scholars each July during which they receive daily instruction in academic areas such as chemistry and language arts, and study anatomy and physiology in the school’s cadaver lab. Classroom experiences range from medical terminology and understanding health disparities to ACT and standardized test taking.

Those who complete the two-week session can return the following summer to take part in the Advanced Summer Scholars, which provides additional experiences in different medical services such as emergency and outpatient medicine, rehabilitation, and nursing. This year’s advanced group was treated to additional hospital experiences including viewing surgeries in the operating room and shadowing students and physicians at Children’s Mercy Kansas City.

The experience for advanced scholars was broken into two one-week sessions this year in order to allow more students to take part. Dugbo was part of the first session of Advanced Summer Scholars.

“The ability to shadow the doctors and see the students in the hospitals was huge because I got to see how they interact with patients and what their daily lives were like,” she said.

The hospital experiences opened the eyes of Emily Reed, a senior at Winnetonka High School who was also part of the Advanced Summer Scholars.

“Last year it was more time learning chemistry and biology,” she said. “This year, there’s a lot more time in the hospital where last year it was mainly shadowing medical students in the clinic. The good thing about this program is that it showed me a variety of areas of medicine. I thought I was dead set on going into one area of medicine because I’ve always been interested in surgery. But now, it’s going to be a matter of seeing how many choices I have and what decision I’m going to make in the future.”

Dugbo said that it’s still too early to say what field of medicine she’d like to enter or where she will go to school in the future, but her experiences these past two summers has made her sure of one thing. Her plan is to start looking into pre-medical school programs soon, and that includes applying to the UMKC School of Medicine.

“We learned this is what you’ll be doing in medical school, this is what you’ll be doing after medical school. It’s really solidified what I want to do in the future,” Dugbo said. “Now, it’s 100 percent, I want do something in the medical field because I’ve loved this experience.”

Health professions, law schools team up to help older Kansas Citians with aid of national grant

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UMKC LOGOUniversity of Missouri-Kansas City health professions schools — the School of Nursing and Health Studies, School of Dentistry, School of Medicine and School of Pharmacy — and the School of Law were awarded a national grant to work together to advocate for older adults at the Don Bosco Senior Center and Reconciliation Services, both located in medically underserved areas in Kansas City.

By the year 2030, the U.S. population age 65 and older is expected to double, making older adults the fastest-growing group in the nation. Yet the vast majority of curriculum for health professions students does not include specific instruction dedicated to the needs of geriatric health. Designed for UMKC advanced practice nursing and graduate medical, dental, pharmacy and law students, the project will focus on enhancing active listening and empathic understanding in preparing student teams to advocate for older adults.

The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and the Gordon and Betty More Foundation, awarded a two-year, $50,000 matching grant to the UMKC School of Nursing and Health Studies. Through matching funds from the partnering schools, this $100,000 project is one of 16 out of 44 universities to be awarded.

“This creative collective breathes new life into our pedagogical approach to educating health professionals,” said Ann Cary, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies.

“The proposed initiative will not only help to advance interprofessional education and interprofessional collaboration through bringing together medical, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy and law students, but will also address an important need, which is to increase health and law professional students’ knowledge and understanding of the health care and legal issues experienced by aged individuals,” said Steven L. Kanter, dean of the School of Medicine.

“The project is consistent with the mission of the health professions schools to promote excellence in delivering interprofessional curricular opportunities for students,” said Russ Melchert, dean of the School of Pharmacy.

“The project will improve our graduates’ ability to form relationships with other health care professionals while developing an understanding of the issues facing an aging populace,” said Marsha Pyle, dean of the School of Dentistry.

“The project design, which is to capture the lived experiences of aging and access to care, will serve a diverse elder population, the majority of who come from the lowest economic level,” said Mo Orphin, executive director of the Don Bosco Center.

“This initiative will be an important educational experience for UMKC health and law students, and will benefit our clients through the health education plans that will result from this innovative partnership,” said the Rev. Justin Mathews, executive director of Reconciliation Services.

Titled, Cultivating an Empathic Understanding of Aging: An Interprofessional Approach to Enhanced Provider-Patient Relationships as the Cornerstone of Person-Centered Care, this initiative will accomplish the following goals:

  • Establish a community of practice among health professions and law students to allow for the acquisition of new knowledge through team interaction toward excellence in patient care.
  • Improve provider-patient relationships with older adults by developing health professions and law students’ abilities to capture an individual’s story about aging and the illness experience.
  • Improve acceptance of patients of all ages by sensitizing practitioners to age-based stereotyping that interferes with provider-patient engagement.
  • Increase empathic understanding and collaboration among health professions and law students to foster their ability and willingness to participate in public service as advocates for older adults.

“UMKC and its professional schools are uniquely positioned to focus on issues relating to gerontology across disciplines,” said Ellen Suni, dean of the School of Law. “This project will promote collaboration and recognition of interdisciplinary solutions to health problems while promoting students’ inclination toward public service.”

“We are all readers and translators of the narrative of others,” said Margaret Brommelsiek, principal investigator of the grant at the UMKC School of Nursing and Health Studies. “Interprofessional education helps students foster their skills in reading and narrating. The most skilled communicators tell a story that can be understood by both the individual patient as well as those involved across the health professions.”