Many family medicine departments have developed medical student-run free clinics that provide services to underserved and indigent populations. These clinics are giving students the opportunity to work within a clinical setting with physicians to experience the patient behind the science. Below, we highlight three student-run free clinic programs providing valuable services to patients across the United States.
The Free Outreach Clinics for the Underserved in San Antonio (FOCUS) project began in 2005 in the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). The Clinics provide critical health care services, train students to care for underserved populations, and provide first-hand experience with the social justice issues and human suffering of medically under- and un-served populations. The FOCUS project provides free health care and enhanced quality of life for approximately 3,000 residents of Bexar County in south Texas, an area of the nation characterized by disproportionately high rates of chronic illness, and disproportionately low rates of access to health care.
Richard Usatine, MD, professor of Family and Community Medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, was the founder of the FOCUS Free Clinics Project. The student-run free clinics accomplish two goals: providing medical care to underserved populations while enabling medical students to hone their altruistic sides. “The first 2 years of medical school are so focused on learning basic science, and students spend most of their time in class or labs. Involvement in the FOCUS clinics enables them to get out and see real people with real needs, and it reinforces why they're studying so many hours.” said Dr Usatine.
The FOCUS Free Clinics project currently operates at three residential facilities: Two for individuals and families recovering from homelessness and addiction. These FOCUS clinics have reduced the number of emergency room visits among the service populations, prevented common chronic diseases such as diabetes, and increased thousands of clients’ ability to recover from addiction and homelessness. Within one of the FOCUS Clinics housed in a residential facility for homeless pregnant/parenting adolescents, the FOCUS project will greatly reduce emergency room visits for the 2,200+ moms and their children served by this facility. In addition, providing on-site health care will help keep the young mothers enrolled in programs such as school completion and tutoring, vocational training and job readiness, counseling and therapy, and parenting skills.
You can more information about the UTHSCSA Student-run Free Clinic programs at www.studentrunclinics.org.
The University of California, San Diego, Student-Run Free Clinic Project began one night a week in the basement of a church after a meal program for the homeless. Now, 12 years later, the clinic provides services each day of the week, based in two churches and two inner city elementary schools. “We practice a humanistic, empowerment model creating environments where patients and their families achieve well being,” said Ellen Beck, MD. Dr Beck founded the clinic, along with a group of committed medical students and dedicated community partners. It provides primary care services and outpatient specialty services to more than 1,000 San Diegans who do not qualify for access to care. Another 1,000 receive ancillary services including dentistry and acupuncture. 85% of the clinic’s patients have chronic illnesses, including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, depression and asthma. All aspects of the project are administered and managed by students with the supervision of faculty. The clinic is transdisciplinary in nature and sees the community as the teacher.
Dr Beck said the UCSD program is unique in the range and depth of services that it is able to offer and in the extent of involvement of the medical students. First- and second-year students must take an elective class with a defined curriculum to work at the free clinic project. The UCSD’s popular fourth-year clerkship, Underserved Medicine, involves the fourth-year students acting as clinical coaches, and learning to be teachers. “Students immerse themselves in primary care, and learn about working with underserved communities,” said Dr Beck. UCSD also offers a 1- to 2-year Fellowship in Underserved Healthcare that brings former student leaders back after residency to be fellows and help run the clinic.
Dr Beck has also developed a national faculty development program, “Addressing the Health Needs of the Underserved,” where faculty build community among themselves, and learn to create and sponsor these types of programs. As a result, student-run free clinic projects have been started in over 10 communities in the United States, including clinics in Hawaii, Houston, Missouri, and Mississippi.
Learn more about the student-run free clinics at the University of California, San Diego at http://meded.ucsd.edu/freeclinic/.
CARES (Community Aid Relief Education and Support) was established by Dr Wanda Gonsalves and medical students from the Medical University of South Carolina in August 2005. It is modeled after the UCSD student clinic and has evolved into an interprofessional service learning experience for medical, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, and masters of hospital administration students. Psychiatry residents are involved and see patients two times a month.
The clinic offers primary cares services, gyn (pap smears), diabetes group visits, psychiatry, and labs. Everything is free to the patients, and the clinic only sees those who are uninsured. The clinic sees patients, on a first-come basis, three nights a week in the evenings. Two volunteer MUSC faculty per night from the emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry departments, as well community physician volunteers and practicing physician assistants.
The learning piece of the service is an elective called “Caring for the Community.” Students who take the elective are required to spend 5 nights per semester at the clinic. The CARES clinic is located in Dr Gonsalves' faculty practice, University Family Medicine, in Mt. Pleasant, SC. "Unlike many student clinics, which at times have very meager facilities, our patients are served in my office where students have access to wonderful exam rooms, equipment, and office lab procedures," said Dr Gonsalves.
“We are blessed to have a wonderful community partner, East Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO), a faith-based organization,” added Dr Gonsalves. CARES is also funded by the AAMC Caring for the community grant, the Medical Society of South Carolina, and numerous small grants given by the community. “It is a wonderful experience for our students who desperately need preclinical experience,” said Dr Gonsalves. To learn more about this program, visit www.thecaresclinic.org.
All three of the faculty members mentioned above, Drs Usatine, Beck, and Gonsalves will be participating as faculty at the Student-Run Free Clinic Conference 2010: Creating High Quality Clinics in Our Communities, being held in conjunction with the STFM Predoctoral Education Conference, in Jacksonville, Florida.
Patricia Carney, PhD, is professor of family medicine and of public health and preventive medicine and associate director for Population Studies at the Oregon Health and Science University. She has contributed to the development of several clinical research grants in breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening, detection, and diagnosis. 
