University Honors

Problem: There are many individuals residing in the Inland Empire who lack health insurance and suffer from a variety of social determinants, making access to healthcare difficult. Student-run free clinics serve as part of an organized safety network to help combat the low accessibility of healthcare. This is done by hosting clinical events at publicly accessible locations where basic necessities, information, and medical consultations are provided. However, there is no clear, developed model that assesses whether these student-run free clinics are effective and are achieving their stated goals. Approach: The purpose of the research is to analyze the effectiveness of student-run free clinics, and in this report, to investigate how these clinics commonly support and engage with certain patient populations, such as the underinsured, unhoused, and unemployed populations. We hypothesize that student-run free clinics are an effective means of providing baseline care, addressing health inequities, and facilitating enrollment into long-term care for the underserved communities. Through our research of previously established studies and literature, we found that student-run free clinics have the capability to improve their efficiency through the implementation of community-based interventions that are collected via a needs assessment (Lee et al., 2017). Additionally, studies indicated the necessity for the integration of patient-centered care and strategies to enhance clinical outcomes and satisfaction (Platonova et al., 2016). Finally, student-run free clinics are generally acknowledged as requiring improvements that address patient concerns, such as long waiting times and information privacy (Lawrence et al., 2015). To evaluate our determined effectiveness of student-run free clinics, we proposed a proof of concept 2 in the form of a qualitative survey to the various stakeholders of these organizations. These stakeholders being the patients, undergraduate student volunteers, medical students, and clinicians. The survey consists of a series of open-ended questions tailored for each stakeholder to answer as a reflection to whether the organization is obtaining the specific aspects to be considered effective. Outcomes: Initial drafts of the survey model and questions were further refined and simplified to improve the overall presentation and purpose of the model. In addition to this, we had the opportunity to meet with various medical students and faculty to discuss the model and receive their opinions about the questions being presented. We found that through these discussions, we were able to deduce that various questions were potentially too broad, the model requires framed questions that allow the stakeholder to be unbiased, and that the survey could provide supporting information to establish a common understanding for the stakeholders. Next Steps: Future steps for the project include a continued effort to implement improvements and refine the survey questionnaire and the overall presentation of the model. Additionally, we will work to explore IRB approval options so that data collection can begin on the various student-run free clinics active in the Inland Empire. By doing this, we hope to eventually provide a functional model that can be utilized to support student-run free clinics in the Inland Empire.