Student-run medical clinic incubator for new ideas in healthcare delivery
A free medical clinic that provides an array of primary and specialty care, including routine mental health screenings, under one roof, often in one visit, is extending the boundaries of healthcare delivery.
Founded in 2013 by four medical students at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, the Interprofessional Community Clinic provides health care to underserved men, women and children while offering early clinical skills training to medical and health science students who work in teams, under faculty supervision, to diagnose and treat patients.
Volunteer student clinicians come from a broad range of RFUMS programs including medicine, pharmacy, podiatric medicine, clinical psychology and physical therapy. They work side by side, learning respect for each other's professions and collaborating and leading in areas that also include administration, community outreach, clinic management, fundraising and research.
"We, the students, literally run the show at ICC every Thursday night," said Hannah Lee, ICC co-founder and former president. "There is no other medical environment where, in the absence of a hierarchy, best practices are nonetheless upheld."
Lee praised RFUMS for its support of the founders' "idealistic" plan for the ICC. The university provides space, financial support and a team of advisors.
"It has taken an extraordinary place and an extraordinary group of inspired people to build this clinic," Lee said.
The ICC, which was recently named the 2014 recipient of the President's Interprofessional Healthcare Leadership Award at RFUMS, is operated as part of the Rosalind Franklin University Health System. It provided care to 243 patients in its first year. In its second year, clinic services expanded to include women's health, ophthalmology, diabetes education and social and multilingual services. Nearly 140 students work in the clinic-200 more are on a wait list-and 30 faculty members have volunteered to supervise. ICC volunteers have also held dozens of outreach events, offering health screenings, patient education and referrals.
RFUMS embraced interprofessional education and practice more than a decade ago. Dr. K. Michael Welch, president and CEO, said the clinic embodies the university's mission of interprofessional learning, teaching, and service through leadership.
"The ICC underscores our commitment to improving the health of our community, our nation, and transforming the delivery of care," Welch said. "The clinic and its student clinicians are influencing the future of health care with every patient they see."
Interprofessional, team-based care continues to gain traction as a means to better coordinate care, hold down costs and improve patient outcomes. The American College of Physicians, in a 2013 position paper "Principles Supporting Dynamic Clinical Care Teams," promotes a team-based model in which clinicians in different disciplines assume "principal responsibility for a specific element of a patient's care as the patient's needs dictate," while the team works as a whole to coordinate the elements of care.
Clinic co-founders, all members of the Chicago Medical School Class of 2016, also include Miao Hua, who worked to integrate competing visions for the clinic.
"We wanted the clinic to be flexible and reflexive, always open to new ways of improving care," Hua said.
Svetlana Kozlovich said her role in founding the clinic was "an incredible privilege."
"I'm humbled by the hard work and volunteer efforts of so many RFUMS students, faculty and staff who have made ICC what it is-a truly interprofessional clinic and medical home for so many under- and uninsured patients," Kozlovich said.
Co-founder Sarah Hershman called the clinic an "incubator for new ideas" in the delivery of care.
"None of us really knows what kind of environment we'll be practicing in 10, 20, 30 years from now," Hershman said. "But the future is going to come out of collaborations like the ICC."
The clinic, at 3471 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, is open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Thursday. For an appointment, call 847-578-8501.