The volunteer, student-run Bridging Health Together program has provided free physical examinations and medical services to more than 400 Bridge House residents since it began in November 1999. The project has been selected as one of two nationally to receive a 2000 Student Community Outreach Award at the annual conference of the American Academy of Family Physicians on August 2. Ben Springgate, a fourth-year medical student at Tulane who is a New Orleans native as well as the author and chairman of the project, will fly to Kansas City to accept the award. And the project was one of two honored with a student scholarship at the March meeting of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Typically, physicians have attitudinal problems with patients who have substance abuse problems, says Hope Ewing, MD, an associate professor and director of pre-doctoral education in family and community medicine at Tulane.
Doctors tend to under-diagnose drug and alcohol problems.
Yet, one in every 10 will have a substance abuse problem. The student volunteers are learning to become more skilled and comfortable in diagnosing and treating persons with these disorders. At the weekly student-run clinic at Bridge House, supervised by James Theis, MD, assistant professor of family and community medicine, upperclassmen and underclassmen are paired to work as teams. They gather patient histories and physical exams, provide immunizations, promote health education, give basic health maintenance, and assess the need for follow-up at referral centers. The format of student teams emphasizes supportive, peer-peer teaching of clinical skills in a way that is sensitive to our substance abuse clients, says Eva Lizer, volunteer coordinator of the more than 70 volunteer medical students working with the group.