This interdisciplinary program has made a positive impact on Mr. O's health care for many years to come. Students from the six health professions work as a team in the East Carolina Interdisciplinary Training Program in Rural Health, venturing into homes, hospitals and health centers in Duplin and Green counties. The project is co-directed by Maria Clay, Ph.D. , who coordinates all aspects related to curriculum and evaluation, and by Doyle M. Cummings, Pharm. This federally funded project is one of a few in the nation bringing students of various disciplines to train in a rural setting. A patient's case is shared by a preceptor and the students, and all share in the patient's evaluation and case management, each giving discipline-specific input.
Patients learn the value of all the perspectives from each discipline.
Professionals in one discipline training students in another is an accepted practice in academic medical centers, but in the past such a practice has not been incorporated in rural training sites. Along with clinical preceptors and medical center faculty, students learn about patients, cultural factors and health beliefs that often influence prevention and treatment of disease. They include not only the cultures and beliefs of the indigenous population, but those of the significant numbers of migrant and seasonal workers and their families. The interdisciplinary program provides health-care services not otherwise available. This one clinical rotation allows students to learn as much about providing cost-effective, coordinated health care and about the people and needs of eastern North Carolina as they could in many types of training experiences combined.