Lessons in Population Health

Recently,  Larry Antonucci, MD., (Newly Elected President of Lee Health in Lee County) learned about a collaborative program between Lee Health and Nova Southeastern University that highlighted our values of education, as well as our joint commitment to population health and serving those in need in our community, and it started with a phone call.

“In 2012, Terry Ogilby, Ph.D., clinical coordinator/associate professor in the College of Nursing at Nova, called me to see if we could use some help with outreach activities,” says Karen Krieger, Lee Health director of Community Affairs. “I welcomed the opportunity to help the students gain experience, while at the same time highlight the ways we serve our community, especially the underserved. The program began with students helping plan, organize and staff health fairs. Then, it expanded to include guest presenters from within the health system, as well as community partners.”

The joint program called Community Practicum between NSU and Lee Health consists of the following:

• Finance – The students gain insight into how Lee Health helps individuals find assistance to pay their medical bills, how many patients qualify for charity care and how much charity care Lee Health provides each year. Through this, students learn that there are options for patients in their own community who need financial help.
• Health care for the underserved – The students visit Lee Community Healthcare clinics where they shadow staff and learn about how the clinics help the community and why they are important.
• Community partners, like United Way – Students spend time with United Way 211 operators to help them understand the needs in the community, as well as the resources available to help the callers.
• Trauma – The students tour the emergency department and Trauma operations and learn how this service provides a lifesaving safety net for a five-county region. They gain a better understanding of the necessity of the Trauma Center for the health and well-being of Southwest Florida—even though patient volumes do not always cover the expenses of this type of care.

“I want our nursing students to see and experience the difference between med/surg care and population health. I want them to see and experience the ways a not-for-profit health system is supposed to serve the community,” Dr. Ogilby says. “They get to do that with this program; they get to see what Lee Health and other partners do for the community. Through the Community Practicum, our students learn that with population health, the community is the patient.”

Ogilby says feedback from students has been very positive. She says the students are impressed with how much Lee Health does for the community, and how we work with other organizations and resources in the community to serve others. “Nurses, and nursing students, have compassionate and caring hearts, but this program opens their eyes to needs they may not recognize exist in our community,” she says. “This program allows our students to walk in someone else’s shoes and will help them to become better nurses upon graduation from NSU-CON.”

Since the program’s inception, 75+students have participated.

Antonucci wrote: “Thank you to NSU, Dr. Ogilby and Karen, for creating such a unique educational experience that is rooted in our values and moves our missions forward.