GLBE 159/459: Migrant Farm Worker Health
Course Number: GLBE 159/459
Course Title: Migrant Farmworker Health
Who can Participate?: 2nd year medical students; 4th year medical students
Course description: https://woodland.med.unc.edu/electivesbook/search.aspx#GLBE159
NC locations
Learning Objectives:
This elective is intended for all first and fourth year medical students who are interested in learning more about the health issues facing migrant and seasonal farmworkers in North Carolina. Objectives for the course are as follows:
1. Students will be able to state at least five barriers to health care faced by migrant and seasonal farmworkers in NC.
2. Students will be able to describe the role of outreach workers in overcoming these barriers.
3. Students will be able to complete the Health Assessment of farmworkers under the outreach worker’s supervision.
4. Students will be able to administer the 2 question depression screen in Spanish as part of the Health Assessment, and for farmworkers who screen positive, they will be able to administer the follow up Refugee Health Screen 15.
5. Students will be able to describe the signs and symptoms of green tobacco sickness, heat illness and pesticide poisoning.
6. Students will be able to take a medical history and perform a physical exam in Spanish and present the case in English to their supervising physician.
7. Fourth year students will be able to write a SOAP note of the clinical encounter in the patient’s chart, including developing the plan of care.
8. Students will be able to describe the role of the Migrant Clinician’s Network bridge case management service, Health Net, in providing continuity to migrating patients and will be able to enroll migrant farmworkers appropriately.
9. Students in Central NC will plan and participate in patient care alongside staff members of the NC Farmworker Health Project on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and the Benson Area Medical Center on Thursday evenings. (Western NC in development.)
10. Students will complete the online Webinar series on Migrant Health through Migrant Clinician’s network.
11. Students will perform and document a key informant interview with either a non-patient farmworker, a grower, a crew leader, an outreach worker, Sheila Higgins (the nurse in charge of the pesticide registry in the NC State Department of Health and Human Services) or another relevant person.
Learning Activities: History/Patient Interview,Physical exam,Clinic, Self-directed online learning with recorded webinars and readings
Evaluation: Patient write-ups, paper
Requirements: By permission only. Intermediate or Advanced Medical Spanish required.
Course Director: Gayle Thomas (gayle_thomas@med.unc.edu) 919-260-9405; Additional faculty: Sylvia Becker-Dreps; Julie Todd
Course Credit: Yes, 6 credit hours
Time of Year & duration: June, July, August, September, October
Special Instructions: You will need to find accommodations in Benson, NC for Tues, Weds and Thurs nights as clinical activities are late at night.