College

Interprofessional Health Scholars (IHS) Program

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand - Confucius

Interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice helps students gain a practical understanding of how various disciplines can work together as a team to promote patient well being, whether the patient is an individual, a family or a community.(IPE Collaborative).

The Interprofessional Health Scholars (IHS) Program sponsored by AHEC provides students from various disciplines an opportunity to work together on topics impacting community health.

This year, two teams of health professions students from colleges and universities throughout the USF AHEC service area, will be chosen to work together to develop a worksite wellness project at Gulfcoast North AHEC in Land O'Lakes and Gulfcoast South AHEC in Sarasota. Both teams will spend 8 hours/day, 3 days per week working at these sites.

Health professions students from a number of primary care and related disciplines are eligible to participate in the IHS Program:

  • Allopathic or osteopathic medical students
  • Graduate nurse practitioner students (adult, family, geriatric, pediatric, women's health or psychiatry programs)
  • Physician assistant students
  • Doctoral pharmacy students
  • Doctoral physical therapy students
  • Graduate public health and/or social work students
  • Undergraduate nursing students
  • Dental hygiene/assistant students
  • Select undergraduate pre-health professions students

The objectives of the IHS Program are to provide student teams opportunities to:

  • Research and perform market analysis to determine the feasibility of launching worksite wellness programs in the respective service areas;
  • Develop presentations highlighting the benefits of worksite wellness programs and what AHEC offers employers (this includes researching and identifying curricula to support this initiative);
  • Create an action plan to deliver a worksite wellness program;
  • Develop promotional materials (brochures, flyers, webpage, videos and other social media efforts) to help market the worksite wellness program;
  • Implement pilot initiatives with worksites in each respective service area;
  • Participate in class-based discussions concerning interprofessional collaboration and submit reflection papers on your experiences.

Students selected to participate in IHS will receive a bonus for successful performance (before taxes/required deductions). Students may also be eligible to receive elective course credit/field experience from their respective academic programs (pending approval of advisor and/or field placement coordinator). Travel stipends (beyond commuting to/from the AHEC office) are provided.