Sept. 27, 2010 | Sept. 27, 2010 | Three federal grants worth a total of about $4.5 million to programs at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will enhance the education of students and resident physicians in the family medicine field and fund new equipment for students in the dental hygiene program.

The grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services included:

• A five-year, more than $2.7 million grant, will allow faculty at our six UAMS Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) that serve as teaching sites for 132 resident physicians in Fayetteville, Fort Smith, El Dorado, Texarkana, Jonesboro and Pine Bluff to evolve their practices into Patient Center Medical Homes (PCMH) and train residents in this new model of care. The grant will also allow AHEC faculty to develop a new curriculum focusing on evidence-based medicine and the latest in electronic medical record technology for managing care of patients with chronic disease.

• A five-year, more than $1.5 million grant, written as a collaborative effort between the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and the UAMS AHEC program will support programs for first- and second-year medical students to encourage them to pursue careers as primary care and family doctors. The programs for medical students include a mentoring program that matches students with mentors in the primary care field, a preceptorship that allows students to work under family physicians, and learning sessions that allow students to examine first hand working in the primary care field. Additionally, DFPM and AHEC faculty will update the curriculum in the required third-year family medicine clerkship.

• A grant for $294,660 in Recovery Act funds to purchase 18 dental chairs, delivery units and lights for the Department of Dental Hygiene, replacing older equipment. The new equipment will assist 66 students in the program as well as 50 professionals taking continuing education courses this year and in the coming years.

The six AHEC family medical centers covered by the residency grant serve about 175,000 patient visits per year. Since sixty percent of all Arkansans have at least one chronic disease, such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes, there is a growing need to develop better systems to manage patients with chronic illness.

The new PCMH residency grant will integrate new techniques and IT technology, such as EMR’s, into the curriculum that physicians learn from as they serve their patients in the AHECs. These changes are intended to prepare primary care residents for future practice by building the team-based models necessary to care for patients with chronic illness, including clinical pharmacists, clinical psychologists, and social workers.

In addition, the resident physicians will learn to use the latest in electronic medical record technology for managing care of these patients. Medical records will be enhanced through access to applications including electronic prescriptions, an electronic disease registry and a patient portal to allow more communication between physician and patient.

“The impact of this grant can be far reaching as it will ensure our resident physicians get the best training for responding to the biggest health issue in Arkansas – chronic disease,” said Robert Price, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of research in the AHEC system and the Center for Rural Health.

Mark Mengel, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for UAMS Regional Programs and executive director of the UAMS Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program, added, “All health care providers will have to learn to use the electronic medical record and other IT tools that allow providers to keep down costs while providing high-quality patient care.”

The predoctoral grant will enhance the information that medical students receive about primary care and rural practice, intending to show the opportunities available in Arkansas, said Patricia Vannatta, associate director for education in the AHEC program. Students will have more exposure to primary care at the community level through the preceptorships, which will now include a service learning project to introduce them to resources available and the impact one can have.

“Our students will learn that there are many opportunities for a viable practice and they can have a significant impact on a community not just by seeing patients in their clinic but through efforts that improve health in the community,” Vannatta said.

The grant also will allow for regular monthly sessions concerning primary care and rural medicine with topics ranging from loan repayment to community health issues. The family medicine junior clerkship curriculum will be revamped to teach the specialty’s key principles, focus on care of the underserved, and model what it means to be an Arkansas family physician. In addition, the opportunities for family medicine and rural practice in Arkansas will be more heavily promoted both inside and outside the state.

The six family medical centers covered by the residency grant serve about 175,000 patient visits per year. Fifty percent of these are geriatric patients. Sixty percent of all Arkansans have at least one chronic disease, such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes.

The grant targeting medical students seeks to address shortages in the number of primary care physicians in Arkansas. According to an Arkansas Department of Health study, there is a projected deficit of 664 family physicians in the next five years. The number of UAMS students choosing family medicine residencies mirrors a national trend. In 1998, 34 percent of the seniors chose family medicine. In 2010, the number fell to 18 percent.

“The Title VII Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) grants are much-needed support to programs for providing the highest level teaching experience for doctors-in-training in Arkansas,” said Daniel Knight, M.D., chairman of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine. “The residency training grant will give learning opportunities to resident physicians throughout the state on the care of patients with chronic, long-standing disease, using the latest technology and techniques.

“The pre-doctoral grant will help our medical students to learn about family medicine practice and the critical need for primary care physicians. It will encourage the students to choose family medicine and will provide them with a broad vision of the student’s importance to the care of our citizens.”

The grant to the dental hygiene program will allow replacement of dental chairs in the program’s clinic on the UAMS campus.

“These funds enable us to replace aging equipment with new, state-of-the-art equipment in our dental hygiene program’s clinic,” said Ronald Winters, Ph.D., dean of the UAMS College of Health Related Professions. “This clinic is essential in the education of our dental hygiene students and assures that our graduates will have learned on the most up-to-date equipment.

“Also, this clinic sees more than 3,000 patients each year, many of whom have no other access to oral health care.”