Posters
Academic Level (Author 1)
Medical Student
Academic Level (Author 2)
Medical Student
Academic Level (Author 3)
Medical Student
Academic Level (Author 4)
Medical Student
Academic Level (Author 5)
Medical Student
Discipline Track
Community/Public Health
Abstract
Purpose: The UTRGV SOM Stroke Prevention Education Program is a patient education initiative for uninsured patients in Hidalgo County, where the prevalence of the five major risk factors for strokes, like diabetes and hypertension, are especially high. Texas Medical Association student members collaborated with the UTRGV SOM Area Health Education (AHEC) Scholars program, which aims to help reduce the significant shortage of primary health care providers in rural and medically underserved communities in the Rio Grande Valley.
TMA and AHEC students from multiple disciplines like medicine, dietetics, nutrition, and exercise studies offered specific techniques (i.e. home workout programs and culturally competent recipes) to help patients control their blood pressure and address other risk factors for strokes like smoking cessation and diabetes management. Students provided one-on-one education to patients along with a blood pressure monitor to uninsured hypertensive patients at the Area Health Education Center San Carlos Clinic. Students worked with providers and community health workers to teach patients how to monitor their blood pressure at home along with signs of a stroke using the Spanish RAPIDO pneumonic from the American Heart Association.
Description: Student chapter members and AHEC scholar students from multiple disciplines will assist AHEC staff on Friday afternoons in conducting the follow-up surveys, providing patient education, and data collection whenever patients in the program schedule appointments. TMA students, along with AHEC scholar program students, will sign up to volunteer to provide patient education on Friday afternoons when patients have appointments. This will give first- and second-year students early supervised clinical exposure and an opportunity to collaborate with other health professionals as an interdisciplinary team. Patients will also have a chance to learn more about stroke prevention that they may not receive otherwise due to limited opportunities for uninsured patients seen in the rural, underserved community of San Carlos, where the AHEC is located.
Partners: We will collaborate with the AHEC Scholars program students from multiple disciplines like nutrition, exercise science, and addiction studies to help carry out patient education and data collection in conjunction with TMA medical students and designated AHEC clinic staff. We have confirmed that an LVN and community health worker will be available to assist students in education as needed and will be able to provide Spanish translation. With more than 30 volunteers contributing over 81 volunteer hours of service, our medical student members have had the unique opportunity to collaborate closely with peers from various health professions. This interdisciplinary collaboration has fostered brainstorming sessions for culturally concordant solutions and innovations to address patient needs, such as partnering with nutrition program students to identify heart-healthy and culturally concordant recipes.
Looking Ahead: We’ve realized the need for bilingual patient education materials and bilingual survey materials (i.e. stroke education assessment surveys in Spanish and English). We hope to work with the school of medicine in the future to develop bilingual surveys and explore stroke education materials that can be made available to the public.
Presentation Type
Poster
Recommended Citation
Gonzalez DiGrazia, Briana; Schmolze, Mia Rose; Uzoma, Chantal; DiGrazia, Paul; and Gonzalez Tovar, Maria Camila, "UTRGV SOM Stroke Prevention Education Program" (2024). Research Colloquium. 49.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/colloquium/2024/posters/49
Included in
UTRGV SOM Stroke Prevention Education Program
Purpose: The UTRGV SOM Stroke Prevention Education Program is a patient education initiative for uninsured patients in Hidalgo County, where the prevalence of the five major risk factors for strokes, like diabetes and hypertension, are especially high. Texas Medical Association student members collaborated with the UTRGV SOM Area Health Education (AHEC) Scholars program, which aims to help reduce the significant shortage of primary health care providers in rural and medically underserved communities in the Rio Grande Valley.
TMA and AHEC students from multiple disciplines like medicine, dietetics, nutrition, and exercise studies offered specific techniques (i.e. home workout programs and culturally competent recipes) to help patients control their blood pressure and address other risk factors for strokes like smoking cessation and diabetes management. Students provided one-on-one education to patients along with a blood pressure monitor to uninsured hypertensive patients at the Area Health Education Center San Carlos Clinic. Students worked with providers and community health workers to teach patients how to monitor their blood pressure at home along with signs of a stroke using the Spanish RAPIDO pneumonic from the American Heart Association.
Description: Student chapter members and AHEC scholar students from multiple disciplines will assist AHEC staff on Friday afternoons in conducting the follow-up surveys, providing patient education, and data collection whenever patients in the program schedule appointments. TMA students, along with AHEC scholar program students, will sign up to volunteer to provide patient education on Friday afternoons when patients have appointments. This will give first- and second-year students early supervised clinical exposure and an opportunity to collaborate with other health professionals as an interdisciplinary team. Patients will also have a chance to learn more about stroke prevention that they may not receive otherwise due to limited opportunities for uninsured patients seen in the rural, underserved community of San Carlos, where the AHEC is located.
Partners: We will collaborate with the AHEC Scholars program students from multiple disciplines like nutrition, exercise science, and addiction studies to help carry out patient education and data collection in conjunction with TMA medical students and designated AHEC clinic staff. We have confirmed that an LVN and community health worker will be available to assist students in education as needed and will be able to provide Spanish translation. With more than 30 volunteers contributing over 81 volunteer hours of service, our medical student members have had the unique opportunity to collaborate closely with peers from various health professions. This interdisciplinary collaboration has fostered brainstorming sessions for culturally concordant solutions and innovations to address patient needs, such as partnering with nutrition program students to identify heart-healthy and culturally concordant recipes.
Looking Ahead: We’ve realized the need for bilingual patient education materials and bilingual survey materials (i.e. stroke education assessment surveys in Spanish and English). We hope to work with the school of medicine in the future to develop bilingual surveys and explore stroke education materials that can be made available to the public.