SEARCH Rotation Site Information

Program Description

Tennessee SEARCH provides health professions students with community-oriented, primary care rotations in medically underserved health professional shortage areas and other areas of need in Tennessee.

Over 450 students and over 300 preceptors have participated in Tennessee’s SEARCH program since its inception in 1995.

Tennessee SEARCH is funded by the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and awarded through a government contract to the Tennessee Primary Care Association.

The MAIN GOAL of the program is to provide opportunities for health professions students and residents to serve in interdisciplinary primary health care teams within underserved communities.

The OBJECTIVES of the SEARCH program are to:

1) facilitate and strengthen community-academic linkages; and
2) increase the recruitment and the retention of health care professionals in health professional shortage areas and others areas of need by expanding the number of high-quality service-linked training opportunities in these communities.

Placement Site Criteria

Student placements are made in federally funded community health centers statewide and in other community-based primary care practices and behavioral health practices in medically underserved health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) and other underserved communities, including public health department clinics, homeless health care clinics, rural health clinics, behavioral health clinics, NHSC practices, and private practices. We prefer that sites see all patients regardless of ability to pay; offer a sliding fee scale; and accept Medicare and Medicaid (TennCare) assignments.

We provide students a variety of rural and urban sites that offer wonderful experiences for those interested in working with underserved populations. Most of our preceptors have worked with SEARCH for many years.

A student's rotation experience can truly change the course of their life. One example is the rotation of Shana Kaplan, a nurse practitioner student at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions. Shana came to REACHS Community Health Center in LaFollette, TN and left with a different career plan thanks to the influence of  preceptor Mary Morris, FNP, and the staff of REACHS. Click here to read Shana's story.

If you have not participated in the SEARCH Program before but would like to be a SEARCH site or if you have participated but need to update your information, please complete a SITE AVAILABILITY FORM (PDF) and return it to denise@tnpca.org.

We cannot guarantee that we will place a student in your clinic, but we will make an effort to do so.

Clinical Disciplines That May Participate
Clinicians from a variety of fields may precept students:

• primary care allopathic and osteopathic physicians in: family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry
• dentists
• clinical social workers
• family/primary care nurse practitioners
• psychiatric nurse practitioners
• primary care physician assistants
• certified nurse midwives
• clinical psychologists
• certified marriage and family therapists.

We provide the preceptor with web-based tools and program information.

Site Stipends

In appreciation for your participation, your clinic will receive a site stipend:
· $1,250 for one student
· an additional $500 per student up to a maximum of $2,250

In order for your clinic to receive this stipend, a W9 form must be completed and returned and faxed to 615-329-3823 or e-mailed to denise@tnpca.org. Click here for the W9 form.

Community-Oriented Primary Care Project Details

SEARCH participants are required to design and complete a community-oriented primary care project in conjunction with the assigned site, based on the needs of the community. Projects may be oriented toward research, patient education, community outreach, assessment, health promotion, or disease prevention. Projects may be new or continuations of ongoing work at the center, but the student's task should be such that it can be realistically completed within the time period of the rotation.

Preceptors work with the student to identify site and community needs. Students are given a Community Health Status Report for your site’s county to help them assess need.

Click here for more DETAILS ABOUT THE COMMUNITY ORIENTED PROJECT and EXAMPLES OF PAST PROJECTS (PDF).

Suggested Site Orientation Manual

A site orientation manual is NOT required for your participation in SEARCH; however a manual would assist you in orienting students to your clinical site. If you choose to prepare a manual make sure it is updated each semester, or each time you precept. You may assign the role of updating the manual to a student as a learning opportunity!

Please feel free to adapt as needed. We recommend these components:
1. Introduction to Clinical Site
· Name and address of site
· Directions to site
· Contact information: telephone number, e-mail address, fax number, web site address
· Mission or purpose of the site
· Funding of the site, if any grant funding
· Photo to site

2. Biographical sketches of preceptor and key personnel (these can be put into a binder for the site orientation manual, and some of it could be used on your clinic web site)
· Preceptor: name, credentials, photos, job title, brief description of work responsibilities, contact information
· Other providers, as above
· Staff, as above

3. Description of community and clinic population
· Brief description of community
· Clients served: ages, education, health insurance, common health conditions, common medications, racial/ethnic influences on health, major religions
· Community health resources, accessibility, availability
· Example of policies affecting care of the population
· Examples of political issues affecting the site or population

4. Description of clinical activities
· Describe a typical day
· Describe potential projects and activities
· Describe completed projects
· Solicit suggestions for future projects

National Health Service Corps Information

If your community is:

• Rural or urban, serving high-need populations
• Designated as having a shortage area for primary care, mental health, or dental health services
• Currently employing or seeking to employ NHSC primary health care clinicians
• Developing innovative programs to reach the medically underserved

NHSC can help! Click here for more information.

Other Resources for Health Centers

Tennessee Primary Care Association

http://www.tnpca.org
Tennessee Primary Care Association administers the SEARCH contract on behalf of the National Health Service Corps. We are a non-profit organization whose goal is the strengthening of community-based primary health care systems in Tennessee. Our member clinics serve the underserved in Tennessee. Please view our web site at http://www.tnpca.org for more details about us and our programs.

The Rural Partnership

http://www.theruralpartnership.com/index.html

The Rural Partnership's mission is to enhance statewide collaboration on workforce planning to better serve rural and underserved communities and health providers in Tennessee by assisting in the recruitment, placement and retention of physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses and other health professionals.

Rural Health Association of Tennessee

http://www.rhat.org
The Rural Health Association of Tennessee (RHAT) is a not-for-profit organization of individuals and organizations committed to improving the health of rural Tennesseans by providing leadership on rural issues through advocacy, communication, education and legislation. Its vision is to effect a positive change in the health and well being of all rural people in Tennessee through the proactive involvement of our members, other organizations and policymakers in identifying and resolving rural health care concerns.

Cultural Competency Resources

Looking for ways to expand your knowledge of cultural competency? Health Resources and Services Administration has developed a tool in collaboration with the HRSA Centers of Excellence (COE) program which encourages the teaching of cultural and linguistic competency content in the educational curricula of HRSA grant recipients.

This curriculum guide, Transforming the Face of Health Professions through Cultural & Linguistic Competence Education: the Role of the HRSA Centers of Excellence ”, is a significant achievement brought about by the efforts of a large number of dedicated individuals who have worked over many months to develop a cohesive and valuable curriculum guide. The goal of the HRSA Centers of Excellence is to reduce disparity in the health care system by increasing the number of underrepresented minorities working in the health field. For further information: www.hrsa.gov/culturalcompetence/curriculumguide