Patient-Centered Medical Home Graduate Internship, Benefits to a Practice Manager: Case Study.

Graduate Health Information Management students can and should be involved in collaborations with the Patient-Centered Medical Home at primary care clinics. In this case, the student is not from a Health Services Management background as it was in the first internship article, but rather from a Health Information Management background. This case study is the second of 2 Patient-Centered Medical Home internship studies where the value of an intern to a practice manager is demonstrated.

Patient-Centered Medical Home Undergraduate Internship, Benefits to a Practice Manager: Case Study.

Health services management interns become practice facilitators for primary care clinics interested in pursuing patient-centered recognition for their practice. This experience establishes a collaborative relationship between the university and clinic practices where students apply their academic training to a system of documentation to improve the quality of patient care delivery. The case study presents the process undertaken, benefits, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations for intern, practice mangers, and educators. The practice manager benefits as interns become Patient-Centered Medical Home facilitators and assist practice managers in the recognition process.

Health Service Management Interns Serve as Practice Facilitators for Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition: East Carolina University-Appalachian State University Initiative.

East Carolina University College of Allied Health Science's Department of Health Services Management program is partnering with Community Care of North Carolina and Access East to transform medical practices and educate students on the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of health care delivery. Why now? The Affordable Care Act (2010) and other health care reform changes brought to the forefront the need to focus on improving the quality of care while lowering the overall cost of care. This article describes the first year of implementation of a PCMH initiative where students in a health services management internship program act as facilitators to assist practices in the PCMH recognition process. Lessons learned were the importance of provider and staff endorsement of the PCMH model. In addition, educational needs, time constraints, electronic health record training, understanding practice workflow, and understanding of the National Committee on Quality Assurance PCMH standards were important aspects of the prerequisite knowledge necessary for success. This article compares the ECU Practicum in Primary Care and the Appalachian State University Practicum in Primary Care to build a best practice model based upon the commonalities and uniqueness of each of the individual university programs and their practice sites.

Community education clarifies career choice in an allied health professions course.

Community education, a form of experiential learning, balances academic content with experiences, teaching students to apply learning to life experiences. Community education is introduced in the course, "Professional Roles and Environments in Health Care," which allows students to explore allied health careers to help them identify a health profession of interest. Students indicated that community education is a valuable academic exercise, allowing them to acquire real world experiences, interact with health professionals, and relate classroom learning.

Introduction of a cultural training experience into interdisciplinary health science education program.

In the 21st century the U.S. will have an increasingly diverse population, challenging healthcare communities to deliver culturally sensitive services. Healthcare professionals must be culturally competent to address the needs of this changing population. While education can assist health professional students to attain progressively higher levels of cultural competence, delivering this education must rely heavily on field experiences or engagement to help students simultaneously learn and apply culturally sensitive skills. The implementation of a cultural sensitivity training experience in an interdisciplinary curriculum and the use of the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence are discussed in the assessment of the case study write-up for cultural sensitivity and awareness. Overall, students gained a greater understanding of patient's cultural background and a willingness to incorporate cultural issues into their health assessments as a result of the cultural experience.

Leadership styles in interdisciplinary health science education.

The US Institute of Medicine recommends that all health professionals should deliver patient-centered care as members of interdisciplinary health science teams. The current application of the Bolman and Deal Leadership model to health sciences provides an interesting point of reference to compare leadership styles. This article reviews several applications of that model within academic health care and the aggregate recommendations for leaders of health care disciplines based on collective findings.

Leadership frames and perceptions of effectiveness among health information management program directors.

Leadership is important to health science education. For program effectiveness, directors should possess leadership skills to appropriately lead and manage their departments. Therefore, it is important to explore the leadership styles of programs' leaders as health science education is undergoing reform. Program directors of two and four-year health information management programs were surveyed to determine leadership styles. The study examined leadership styles or frames, the number of leadership frames employed by directors, and the relationship between leadership frames and their perceptions of their effectiveness as a manager and as a leader. The study shows that program directors are confident of their human resource and structural skills and less sure of the political and symbolic skills required of leaders. These skills in turn are correlated with their self-perceived effectiveness as managers and leaders. Findings from the study may assist program directors in their career development and expansion of health information management programs as a discipline within the health science field. As academic health centers receive greater pressure from the Institute of Medicine and accrediting agencies to reform health science education, the question of leadership arises. These centers have taken a leadership role in reforming health professional education by partnering with educational institutions to improve the health of communities. To achieve health education reform, health sciences educators must apply effective leadership skills.1 College and university leadership is challenged on how to best approach educational reform across health science fields. This article discusses leadership styles employed by program directors of one health science department, health information management, in directing programs for health science education reform.