MED S400--Service Learning in the Medical Setting for Pre-Professional Students

About this Course

Syllabus

Course Description:
This Service Learning is designed to give you an experience in service activities that will facilitate incorporation of service principles into your academic repertoire. Service learning principles include the following:

Students should have a voice in the nature of their involvement. Student’s choice and decision making should be encouraged and respected.
Service projects should address real community need in a manner agreed upon by potential recipients, appropriate agencies, and the students.
The service learning project should include scheduled time for group planning and reflection before, during and after.
Service should be integrated into the curriculum.
Service projects should both affirm and expand a sense of the community and the cultural ideas of the server and the recipient of the service.
Specific student and community goals should be developed to guide implementation and to enable assessment to be an integral part of the program.

You will complete training in volunteer services at a local hospital and then you will be assigned to a medically underserved clinical area where you are to integrate yourself into the area and serve the area during the semester. You will identify with the course instructor(s) a primary community based service learning project as a focus for the semester. Additionally, you will rotate through different sections of the medical area where you are assigned. For example, you might spend an hour each week with the Dietician, the Social Worker, a Physician, a Nurse, the Pharmacist, or the Medical Records Clerk. Upon completion of the course, you will give 30 minute presentation and submit a summary document. This document will be reviewed by the course instructor(s) and your pre-professional advisor. Estimated contact time at the clinical site: 3 hours / week, estimated outside preparation: 2hours / week.

Course Objectives:
By the end of the course, you will:

Have a deeper understanding what community involvement entails.
Be more aware of issues in the community.
Have been exposed to diverse communities.
Understand the importance of civic responsibility.

Course Requirements:

You must have Junior or Senior status with your home institution and be interested in the health professions.
You must have permission from your advisor to participate in this course.
You must go through the process of becoming a certified Hospital Volunteer prior to the first day of the class!
- Students in Indianapolis should:
  Some of the steps of becoming a certified Wishard volunteer will be provided to you at the first class meeting. If you are unable to attend the first class meeting, you will need to complete these on your own.
- All students will need to complete the final parts of volunteer training by contacting Erin Brown, even if you received some parts of the training during the first class meeting.

Contact Information:
Erin Brown in Volunteer Services at Wishard Hospital.
Phone number: 317-639-6671
Fax: 630-6376
You will need to get a volunteer application form from Wishard. This will include an application, Authorization to Release Information and an Occupational/Employee Health Clinic Pre-Registration Information Form. The packet also consists of Volunteer In-Service Verification, HIPAA Acknowledgement and Receipt Form, Volunteer Handbook forms and Test Your Knowledge Form.

All forms should be returned to:
Wishard Health Services, Volunteer Services, Attn: Erin Brown,
1001 West 10th Street Room FM100
Indianapolis, IN 46202

To finish the application process, each person must complete a health screening consisting of a tuberculosis skin test and verification against measles, mumps, ruebella and chicken pox. Applicants who have received a tuberculosis skin test within the last three months need only provide verification of the test. The health screening is free of charge. Tests may be completed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday between the hours of 7:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. For the health screening please report to Employee/Occupational Health located on the 4th floor of the Regenstrief Health Center. Please remember, after the test has been administered you must return to Employee/Occupational Health within 48-72 hours to have the test read.

Materials:

E-mail account: Every IUPUI student is automatically assigned an e-mail account upon registration. It is your responsibility to understand this technology. Call 274-HELP for assistance. You must have your IUPUI e mail account activated and know your user name and password by the end of the first week of class.
- For the students in who are not IUPUI students:
  You can obtain your Oncourse account by going to www.itaccounts.iu.edu. Once on this website click on “student creating account for the first time” and then follow the instructions. Use your school email address as your account logon. Once you have created the Oncourse account, please email the course instructor to add you to the Oncourse Roster. If you have any problems or need assistance call UITS, 274-HELP.
University ID card: Identification cards for students are required for use as a library card in the University libraries.
Oncourse Web Site: Assignments and announcements will be posted weekly.
STEP computer classes: (Recommended if you are new to computers, IUPUI provides these 2 hour courses free for students. Information can be found at the following address: http://iuep.iu.edu/
Computer Support: Technology support can be located at the following address: http://www.iupui.edu/~stiu/

Testing, Grading, and Evaluation Policies and Procedures:

This course is a pass / fail course. No letter grade will be assigned.

A passing grade will be earned upon satisfactory work on a service learning project and completion of each of the following:

A final class presentation (20 minutes for each student)
A document summarizing your experience and the community in which you served (minimum 3 pages single spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins)
Weekly participation in an online discussion about service learning (30 minutes / week)
An activity log documenting your hours of service (3 hours service / week)
This will need to be submitted weekly.
Completed course readings (1 hour / week)

You will have three class meetings (one at the beginning of the semester and two at the end of the semester) and one meeting (during the middle of the semester) with the instructor over the course of the semester. Also, you will be required to periodically submit a progress report of your project. The times at which these are required is specified on your Course Schedule. You will be notified of any deficiencies in either submission that need to be addressed.

You will be assigned to a medically underserved clinical area for the duration of the semester (referred to as "site"). You will complete an evaluation form of the service learning process during week 16. The site director will complete an evaluation of your performance at the end of the semester.

YOU CANNOT START THE SHADOWING OR SERVICE PROJECT PORTIONS OF THE CLASS UNTIL YOU COMPLETE VOLUNTEER CERTIFICATION!

Shadowing:

You will shadow different health care workers in the clinic. Shortly after the first class meeting, you will be emailed your clinic assignment and the contact information for your clinic director. The clinic directors are extremely busy, so you will need to put significant effort into contacting the director. It is your responsibility to contact the director and set up a time to start your shadowing experience, so leave plenty of time to try to contact the director several times.

During the shadowing, you will complete checkoff sheets. The checkoff sheets are in Microsoft Excel and can be downloaded from Oncourse. Each time you shadow a healthcare worker in the clinic, you will need to complete the checkoff activities. The purpose of the checkoff sheets is to guide you through a learning process of observation and participation in the shadowing. Upon completion of your shadowing experience, please fax the completed checkoff sheets to: 317-274-4444 ATTENTION: Lynn Stuart

Service Learning Project:

Before the first class meeting, you will be provided with a list of available service projects. This “menu” of projects is the list of your options for service activities during the remainder of the semester. You need to rank the projects in order of your highest preference (1 being your most desired project). Please rank at least 10 projects. Bring the ranked list of projects to the first class meeting.

Shortly after the first class meeting, you will be emailed your service project, based on your preferences and the preferences of your classmates. After your shadowing experiences, you will begin your service project. You will need to contact your service project advisor prior to completing your shadowing so that you have plenty of time to meet with the service project advisor before you start working on the project.

If there is a particular reason why you need to be assigned to a particular clinic or service project, please inform the course instructor at the first class meeting.

After you meet with your service project advisor, you will need to develop a timeline of activities for your project. This timeline will help you identify how much you can accomplish during the semester. By showing it to your service project advisor and the course instructor, you will make sure that they agree with the amount and timing of service work you propose.

Weekly Electronic Discussion:
Each week a "Question of the Week" will be posted for discussion in the chat room. These discussions will be a chance for you to reflect on your service activities for the previous week. You are expected to post a response to the question on a weekly basis. Your response to the discussion question is due by Midnight on the Saturday of each week.

Final Class Presentation:
You will give a 20 minute presentation to the class during the last two class meetings of the semester. The presentation will describe the community where the clinical area is located, the clinical area, and the challenges it faces in providing medical care to its community. The last 10 minutes will be used to describe your project for the semester and how the principles of service as described in the course readings were used to design and implement the project.

Guidelines for Final Presentation

I. In the syllabus it states that each presentation should be 20 minutes long. You should aim for your presentation to be 10 minutes long. This allows 5 minutes for questions and a 5 minute transition period.

II. If you are doing a power point presentation or something that requires using the
floppy drive on a computer you need to either email to Dr. Willis the day before
the presentation or burn it onto a CD. The computer we will be using for the
presentations does not have a floppy drive.

III. Your project should contain the following information:
    A. Tell about your clinic
        1. What kind of neighborhood/community does it serve?
    B. Tell about your project
        1. What need did it fulfill?
        2. How did you spend your time?
        3. What did you accomplish?
    C. What did you get out of the course?
        1. How did it enrich your learning?
        2. How did it enrich you personally?
        3. How did it strengthen or change your commitment to medicine as a career?
        4. How did it impact your view of serving the underserved?
        5. What would you tell someone who wanted to take this class?

Your presentation is not limited to this information; this is simply a guide to help get you started!

Summary Document:
You will submit and summary document by emailing it to the course director before the your final presentation. The document will cover the same topics discussed in the presentation, and end with an "impact statement" of how the experience impacted you. The summary document will be a minimum of 3 pages (single spaced) and will be reviewed by the Course Instructor(s) and your pre-professional advisor.

Your paper should follow the same format as the course presentation. However, 2/3 of your paper should focus on what you got out of the course.

Examples of topics that could be discussed in the document include:

What demographic characteristics of the community make this area unique? (The Indiana Primary Health Care Association provides demographic statistics for each of the clinics)
What are the strengths of this community?
What are the weaknesses of this community?
What are the opportunities of this community?
What are the threats this community faces?
What challenges does this clinic face in its effort to provide quality medical care to the community?
What principles of service, as described in the course readings, did you use to design and implement your project?
What need of the clinic / community did your project fulfill?
What impact did this course have on you?

Make Up Policy:
Complete work is required and expected. Because so much of what we do in class involves and impacts what you are doing, it is essential that you have your work completed on time. In this and many other university courses, homework is seldom collected; however, that does not mean you can leave it for later.

You are expected to provide 3 hours of service each week at his / her clinic site. The hours are not assigned, and it is your responsibility to make sure the 3 hours are performed each week. An activity log documenting the 3 hours of service each week will be maintained by you throughout the semester and verified by the clinic Director. (Clinics are open Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm). If you fail to perform 3 hours of service each week, you jeopardize your passing grade in the course, unless arrangements are made with the course instructor prior to completion of the missed week.

If you miss the initial class meeting, you will need to contact the course instructor before the initial class meeting.

If you miss the final class presentations, you will need to set a date to deliver your final presentation to the Course Instructor(s) and your pre-professional advisor by the end of the semester. If you are unable to attend the final class meeting, then you will be required to write a 3 page single spaced (12 pt font, 1 inch margins) essay on the how society benefits from social action, in addition to your final presentation and summary paper. This make up assignment is due electronically to the course instructor by midnight at the completion of the end of finals week.

Students with Special Needs:
If you have special needs which may affect your performance in this class, University policy requires that you register with and submit documentation to the Office of Adaptive Educational Services, which works with eligible students to request accommodations. Contact AES at 274-3241.

Academic Integrity:
This course follows the University's policy on integrity. A copy of this policy can be found in the University's Student Handbook.

Cheating - "Dishonesty of any kind with respect to examinations, course assignments, alteration of records, or illegal possession of examinations shall be considered cheating. It is the responsibility of the student not only to abstain from cheating but, in addition, to avoid the appearance of cheating and to guard against making it possible for others to cheat. Any student who helps another student to cheat is as guilty of cheating as the student he or she assists." – IUPUI Academic Handbook
Plagiarism - Plagiarism is the using of other's words or ideas as your own without giving credit to the original user. This is a serious offence that can result in failing grades on assignments, in classes and even in expulsion from the university or legal action.

"Honesty requires that any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged. Offering the work of someone else as one's own is plagiarism." – IUPUI Academic Handbook

While this may be new information to you, you are expected to take care not to use intentionally or unintentionally work by others. If you have questions about how to handle a particular situation, please get in touch with me.

Disciplinary Action - Any student found engaged in cheating, aiding in cheating, plagiarism, or any other unfair practice, will be dealt with immediately and strictly according to University policies. Only severest possible penalties will be applied.

Communication:
Communication during the semester will be done via an Oncourse chat room and email. Each week a "Question of the week" will be posted for discussion in the chat room. You are expected to post a response to the question on a weekly basis.

Additional Course Information:
This course will place you in close contact with faculty and Affiliate faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine. As a pre-professional studies student, being in a situation which allows interaction with practicing physicians is very valuable to your future career ambitions. These physicians work closely with the staff and support personnel at the clinic. You should use your time at the clinic wisely. In order to gain the maximum benefit from this course, you should be kind and courteous to the staff and support personnel, and put your best “foot forward” for all activities that you participate in at the site.

A grade of “I” (Incomplete) may be assigned only if the student is not in attendance during the last 25% of an academic term and the absence was beyond the student’s control. Otherwise, the instructor shall assign a grade of “Fail”. The instructor will specify the work to be done to remove the incomplete and the period of time allowed for completion. Upon satisfactory completion of the work within the time allowed, the incomplete will be removed and the earned grade recorded. If the incomplete is not removed within one calendar year of the date of the recording of the incomplete grade, the Registrar will automatically change the “I” to a “Fail” grade. Students may not re-enroll in a course in which they have a grade of “I”.

Student Manifesto:
Students are expected to conduct themselves in a mature manner. You are paying for your education and should receive your money’s worth. Other students also pay for their education so please do not make it difficult for them to concentrate or to hear what is being discussed. Subject matter not related to the course should not be discussed in class. In other words, respect your fellow students and instructor by not holding conversations or behaving in ways distracting to those who are interested in the course material. If you do, you will be asked to leave.

College is not an extension of high school. It is a new experience filled with opportunities and challenges. It can help you develop skills needed for success and open your mind to wonders you never imagined. Whether you are here for personal satisfaction or job advancement, your goal is to learn. Your instructors are here to help you learn. They have experience and a commitment to teaching that you may tap to achieve your goal. The courses you take are college level courses. They may challenge you, may raise your expectations, and prepare you for future challenges.

Your goal should not be a degree, but an education. An education is a process, not a product. A college education provides skills for success in any field. It helps you to develop critical thinking and communications skills which allow you to search for solutions to any problem and to clearly convey your ideas to others. All answers are not equal and critical thinking allows you to discern which answers are best.

Success in college depends on motivation that leads to effort and perseverance. The source of motivation is you! As an adult, you choose whether to take advantage of opportunities presented. You are responsible for that choice and for its outcomes. Being prepared and doing assignments are your responsibility. Reviewing notes and studying are necessary for success, and should be done even when no homework is assigned. Reading assignments, homework, lab reports, and tests are not arbitrary barriers to your goals, but stepping-stones that help you get there. Success requires a special mindset, which includes curiosity and a desire to learn. Being a successful student is more than paying tuition and sitting in class. It requires active participation born of a desire to success. College is like a health club. Paying a lot doesn’t lead to success; hard work does.

We understand that you have real lives, jobs, spouses, children, and problems – so do we. We must still come to class prepared. So should you. We can help with problems. There are people to listen and people to help. There is an extensive student support network of faculty, staff, and other students, but you must seek help if you need it. Problems do not excuse you from your responsibilities; all students are evaluated by the same standards.