The major goal of this project is to insure that minority and other medical and allied health care students, house staff and fellows master the knowledge, skills and performance needed for the practice of preventive cardiology in themselves, their families, their patients and their communities. This goal will be met by certifying that all medical and allied health students from the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and medical students from UCLA have mastered these skills based on written tests of knowledge, satisfactory demonstration of required skills and objective evaluation of performance in the clinical setting of the key skills needed to practice preventive cardiology especially in minority populations: blood pressure measurement, smoking cessation counseling and nutrition advice. This goal will be met by developing and/or implementing certification programs for each of these skills for medical students, housestaff and allied health care trainees at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and medical students at UCLA. In addition all students will complete the Preventive Cardiology Data Base and will have annual risk factor assessment including 24 hour urinary sodium excretion, 24 hour blood pressure measurement and possibly echocardiography. Drew medical students' performance will be revaluated during their Primary Care Clinic experience during their junior and senior years by chart audit and by exit interviews of their patients. The second goal is to develop promising minority faculty members whose interest and training are in preventive cardiology teaching and research. This goal will be met by providing an annual scholarship for a senior minority medical student or housestaff member and a minority faculty member to attend the AHA 10 day Seminar on the Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Disease, Lake Tahoe, CA and by encouraging their participation in helping us teach our certification programs. The third goal is to strengthen the PI, Dr. Grim's, ability and skills to teach and carry out research in preventive cardiology. This will be met by his working closely in the development of the curriculum changes outlined and by enrollment in the MPH program in Epidemiology at UCLA to be completed over 4 years. The fourth goal is to facilitate interchange of educational ideas and methods among awardees and institutions. This will be met by the attending the annual meeting of the PCAA awardees. The final goal is to develop at Drew/UCLA the ability to improve the preventive cardiology curriculum with local funds after the end of the award. This will be met by establishing the Preventive Cardiology Curriculum Committee and by developing an endowed professorship in Preventive Cardiology.
| Grim, C M; Grim, C E (1995) A curriculum for the training and certification of blood pressure measurement for health care providers. Can J Cardiol 11 Suppl H:38H-42H |
