The North Carolina AHEC Program is moving from health professions training in community hospitals and practitioners' office to rural community health care centers and public health departments. The current project will develop pilot community-based training centers at two rural health care facilities. This proposal stresses all of the tree priorities given in the Special Initiative Request for Proposals (RFP). Both sites are located in a health professional shortage area and/or in an area that serves minority or special needs populations. AHEC expects to have a total of 27 student months in the first year and 32 student months in the second year of the project (total = 59): 31 in medicine, 4 in family nurse practice, and 24 in pharmacy. All trainees represent new students produced as a result of curricular changes at the cooperating health science schools. The North Carolina AHEC Program proposes to develop pilot community-based training centers at two rural health care facilities, under the organization and administration of the North Carolina AHEC Program (and two of its constituent AHECs). The health care sites are Section 330 Rural Community Health Centers that serve one or more counties designated as Section 332 Health Professional Shortage Areas. In addition to serving population in medically underserved and health professionals shortage areas, the sites provide special programs that address substance abuse, geriatrics, prenatal and perinatal concerns, infectious disease, and health care evaluation. All health professions students rotating to the proposed sites will participate actively in these programs as part of their training, with a particular focus in the areas of geriatrics and prenatal/perinatal concerns.
