Before 2007, at the beginning of each school year, the first year medical students are assigned one chronic patient to monitor and care for consistently for the two years they stay at the IUSM-NW. Students are expected to visit or speak with their patient on a weekly and/or biweekly basis. They also will be expected to keep a detailed journal of their experiences in treating their patient. In turn, the patient utilizes their medical student as a resource for questions concerning treatment, and as a means of emotional support. The intent of this project is to introduce students to the art of building a solid doctor-patient relationship. Students look to their preceptors for help and guidance during this experience. All students report any significant patient comments or physical exam findings to the patient's primary care physician. All charts and journals are considered confidential material and only first names are used when documenting any information turned into IUSM-NW.

A pilot program, begun in 2006,  as a result of the formation of  the College of Health and Human Services  at Indiana University Northes, we began to pair a medical student with a fourth year nursing students and a social work graduat student to form a student health care team. This medical team sees the chronic patient, prepares management plans, has regular meetings to discuss patient outcomes, and makes final presentations to a group of their peers and faculty. This pilot program was a success. In 2007, we instituted this program with the entire MSI class.  Patients were recruited from Wittenberg Lutheran Home in Crown Point, Idiana Students were given an orientation at the home, got a signed consent form from the patient, then made periodic visits to the patient individually.  Teams would meet periodically to discuss the patient, relate their plans for patient care and outcome, and, most important, learn the roles of each member of the team and gain an understanding of the importance of each team member to provide better patient care and improve patient outcomes.  In 2009, we instituted the patient in the second semester of their first year, a physical exam of during the first semester of the second year, and the entire team makes a presentation of their patient to a goup of their peers and faculty of the CHHS.  In 2009, CHHS also introduced the TeamSTEPPS program to the new cohort of students in the program.

For further information, contact Gary Lonak