Introduction to community health activity Community and Global Neurology Program Hiral Shah, MD and Kiran Thakur, MD

Faculty Exposure to faculty and their teams who do community work.....almost every division has faculty involved in these efforts.

Goals and Objectives, Community and Global Neurology Curriculum Deepen understanding of range of health and illness, understand health and social services Promote patient oriented perspective Enhance multi-disciplinary team work Offer broader range of learning opportunities Provide conceptual framework, along with content and resources, to enable you to integrate cultural and health literacy competency into everyday healthcare practice Increase recruitment into community based clinical and research activities Ref: Howe, Medical Teacher, 2002 What does the first line mean? Sorry if this is stupid….haha.

Importance of Social Determinants of Health Conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes and risks. Understanding the relationship between how population groups experience “place” and the impact of “place” on health Examples include: Availability of resources to meet daily needs (e.g. safe housing, clean water) Access to educational, economic, and job opportunities Access to health care services Quality of education and job training Social support Exposure to crime Language/literacy…. Improving your understanding of the patient’s context can facilitate delivery of health services in a more effective manner. Effective communication correlates with patient satisfaction, adherence to medical plans, and outcomes including emotional health, symptom resolution, physiologic measures, and pain control.

Your experiences? Patient health literacy and social factors affect how patients seek care and interact with health services Travel to the hospital and clinic Environment factors (living space) Understanding of health conditions and possible treatments Financial constraints Cultural factors Goal: Develop a thoughtful approach to communicate with a diverse patient population and understand the social determinants of health in your patients.

What we are introducing and why…. Expose you to community based activities OUTSIDE of the clinic and hospital so you can begin to appreciate the challenges patients have in the hospital/clinic One required community based activity These activities range from educational talks to high school students, nursing home residents, art activities with patients and families suffering from cognitive decline, epilepsy/stroke support groups. For those interested (NOT required), we have also listed faculty who are open to having you be a part of their team longitudinally who perform community based participatory research (ie. Jenn Manly, Jide Williams, etc). Lots of great opportunities. In the coming months, we will incorporate public health approaches into the noon conference curriculum

The Logistics You will be required to choose and participate in at least one (you can do more if interested) community based activity from the list. If you have an independent project you are interested in, please notify us. Completion of this activity should be by your next clinic block (~approximately 6 weeks) It is your responsibility to contact the point person and arrange participation in the session. Please email the contact (ideally) at least two weeks before the session, and cc Dr. Thakur or Dr. Shah. We will have a session in your next clinic block discussing and reflecting upon your experiences. We will also follow up with preceptors to ensure your participation. We want your feedback!