Indiana AHEC Scholars
What is the Indiana AHEC Scholars program?
Indiana AHEC Scholars is a two-year program designed to improve a health professions student’s practice readiness skillset. Scholars is intended for students who have a strong interest in providing care to those living in rural and medically underserved communities across Indiana in positions such as physicians, physician assistants, nurses, public health practitioners, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, and other allied health occupations.
Indiana AHEC Scholars will participate in a mix of online training and community-based learning in rural and underserved communities throughout the state. Through these experiences, students train side-by-side with healthcare professionals and community members. Obtaining these skills and practices in the field allows Scholars to increase knowledge, develop expertise, clarify values and develop their capacity to contribute to communities in need.
Each Scholar receives a stipend of $1800.00 to help offset travel and related expenses that is disbursed in several installments throughout the course of the program.
+ Behavioral Health Integration
Care that results from a practice team of primary care and behavioral health clinicians, working together with patients and families. This care may address mental health and substance abuse conditions, health behaviors (including their contribution to chronic medical illnesses), life stressors and crises, stress‐related physical symptoms, and ineffective patterns of health care utilization.
+ Cultural Competency and Humility
The effort to improve individual health and build healthy communities by training health care providers to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities. An example of Cultural Competency in health care is the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Healthcare.
+ Emerging Topics
Current or emerging issues in health care in Indiana.
+ Interprofessional Practice
A coordinated, patient‐centered model of health care that involves an understanding of the contributions of multiple health care professionals. Interprofessional Practice involves individuals from two or more disciplines with and from each other in effort to improve patient care.
+ Practice Transformation
The goal of practice transformation aims to fully support quality improvement and patient-centered care. It involves goalsetting, leadership, practice facilitation, workflow changes, measuring outcomes, and adapting organizational tools and processes to support new team-based models of care delivery.
+ Social Determinants of Health
The conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning and quality‐of‐life outcomes and risks. Social Determinants of Health includes five key areas (determinants) – Economic Stability, Education, Social and Community Context, Health and Health Care, and Neighborhood and Built Environment – and their impact on health.
+ Connecting Communities and Supporting Health Professionals
This competency aims to increase training and development of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and paraprofessionals as valuable members of the healthcare team.
+ Virtual Learning and Telehealth
Focused on using integrated community based experiential training to improve virtual learning and telehealth curricula.
What does the curriculum typically consist of?
+ Academic Year
The Scholars program typically begins in October and runs through May of the second year.
+ Community-based Learning
Students will participate in 40 hours of community-based learning in the field each year. Many students complete their community-based learning in a small rural community, but there are also options for working with urban underserved populations. Community-based learning components take place in clinics, hospitals, schools and community organizations.
+ Online Training
Students complete 40 hours each year of online didactic training using an online Learning Management System.
Southwest Indiana AHEC Scholars cohorts participated in the
American Heart Association “Go Red for Women”.
