Quentin R. Burdick
Grant
Interdisciplinary Learning
in Rural Healthcare
at
East Tennessee State University
Addressing the Problems of
Healthcare Disparities in Rural
America
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Shortage of Healthcare Providers
Inadequate access to Healthcare
Specialty practice shortage
Shortage in Mental Health services
Through Interdisciplinary
Training

Expand interdisciplinary educational
experiences for students from different
departments at East Tennessee State University
through rural community-based experiential
learning.
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highlight the value of interdisciplinary actions
improve health care quality
special considerations to rural quality issues
Program Objectives
1.
2.
3.
Develop and train an Interdisciplinary Quality
Management Team made up of Faculty and
community rural health partners
Develop a campus wide Seminar on Rural Health
Quality Improvement
Develop and conduct a three credit-hours course
entitled Quality Improvement in Rural Healthcare
integrated with Nursing, Medicine, Social Work,
Public Health, and Nutrition curricula
Faculty
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Interdisciplinary ETSU Faculty
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Public Health
Nutrition
Social Work
Nursing
Medicine
Rural Health Services Consortium (RHSC)
Clinic Team Member
ETSU Faculty Partnership with
Rural Health Services Consortium
Clinicians
Rural Primary Care Clinics
Program Learning objectives
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Chronic Care Model
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Quality Improvement Processes
Interdisciplinary Teaming
Community Best Practices
Diabetes Management Focus
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Rural higher incidence and prevalence
Poorer outcomes for rural residents
Results
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One-day Graduate Seminar for Health
Sciences Feb 2005 “Interdisciplinary Teams
Focusing on Diabetes Care”
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Student interest tool for course recruitment
Speakers
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Leonard Jack, Jr., PhD, MSc, lead behavioral health scientist
within the Program Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
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Jose Velasco, Medical Director Rural Health Services
Consortium
ETSU Nutrition Faculty
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Results
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3 credit-hours multidisciplinary course
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4 weeks in Summer 2005
30 students
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Five disciplines - Public Health, Social Work, Medicine,
Nutrition, Nursing
Five interdisciplinary project groups each led by one
ETSU Faculty member and RHSC clinician
Credit earned within students major department
Course Didactic Week
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30 classroom hours in first week
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Quality Improvement in Rural Healthcare
Diabetes 101
Interdisciplinary Teaming-role contributions in
diabetes management
Best Practices in Rural Diabetes Management
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Representatives from regional providers
Diabetes Collaborative
Rural Health Services Consortium
Student Projects
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QI Diabetes Medical Record Audit Diabetes
Collaborative Guidelines
African American Women’s Diabetes Support
Group
Business Plan for Interdisciplinary Teaming
Regional Diabetes Resources Database
Community Diabetes Health Fair
Student Projects
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Designed to improve
outcomes of chronic
care
Student Projects
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Each employed Quality
Improvement Process
model:
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What are we trying to
accomplish?
How will we know that
change is an
improvement?
What changes can we
make that will result in
improvement?
ACT
PLAN
STUDY
DO
Strategies for Technology
Integration
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Course web site (Blackboard)
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Communication
Assignments
Faculty and student literature resources
Introduced web conferencing among rural clinic sites
and ETSU
Project group trained to use MS Access software for
community diabetes resource database enabling
RHSC to upload to clinics’ website in the future
RHSC Information Technology staff enabled project
groups to use newly available wireless connectivity
for their laptop computers at rural clinics
Student Project
Outcomes
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Power Point presentations to Rural Health
Services Consortium administration
Business Plan
Diabetes Community Resources Database
Diabetes Medical Record Audit and Flow
Sheet Design
Community diabetes meal planning event
Community diabetes education fair