Influencing Health Professions Educations

AHEC works closely with communities across Florida to improve health care at the local level, and strives within the state’s academic health centers to influence health professions education toward a greater emphasis on the primary care needs of the medically underserved. AHEC participation encourages health professions education programs to enhance their curricula with community-based clinical experiences, interdisciplinary training, distance education and other programs vital to students’ learning. It also enables them to do so by identifying local preceptors, coordinating students’ community rotations and otherwise serving as a point of contact for the academic health center within the communities where students train.

• Medical Student Clinical Training
  
  First year medical student clinical training: Students are assigned to a rural, urban underserved or geriatric medical settings to participate in patient care activities under the direct supervision of a primary care physician. Students have opportunities to participate in patient care activities in Leon and several surrounding rural counties.
  
  Second year medical student clinical training: All Second Year Medical Students are required to spend one half day every other week in a clinical setting under the supervision of a primary care physician. Students have the opportunity to practice the patient interview, history taking, physical examination skills, clinical reasoning skills, and to observe patient care being delivered in a community-based setting. These community-based clinical training sites include county health departments and other safety net providers.
  
  Third year medical student clinical training: As a community-based medical school, the Florida State University College of Medicine provides third-year clinical training at the regional medical school campuses around the state through affiliations with local physicians, ambulatory care facilities and hospitals.
  
  Fourth year medical student training: As a community-based medical school, the Florida State University College of Medicine provides fourth-year clinical training at regional medical school campuses around the state through affiliations with local physicians, ambulatory care facilities and hospitals. An educational site in Immokalee provides student training opportunities with the seasonal and migrant farmworker population.
  
  
• Rural Medical Education Track
  
  The FSU College of Medicine recruits students into the "rural track" designed to send students to small rural communities for their third year and to encourage their return after graduation. Because of its strong medical community, Marianna, Florida was selected as the first rural community to begin this track.
   
• Student Chapter of the Florida Rural Health Association (FRHA)

  The Student Chapter of FRHA educates medical students about the benefits and challenges of practicing medicine in a rural community. The organization also helps introduce students from urban areas to rural culture. The addition of the Medical Student Chapter of the FRHA was a natural one, as the organization promotes the rural service mission of Florida State University College of Medicine.
   

• National Primary Care Week
  The AHEC Program office and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) work together each year to sponsor National Primary Care Week activities in October. AMSA is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States with a half-century history of medical student activism. Activities include special presentations on rural health, health literacy and other topics and include service projects in local communities.
  
   
• National Health Service Corps
  
  The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) is committed to improving the health of the Nation’s underserved by uniting communities in need with caring health professionals and support their efforts to build better systems of care. The FSU AHEC Program Director, Andrée Aubrey, is a NHSC ambassador who offers special NHSC programs and assists students in their scholarship application and interview process.