Facilitating Community Resource Utilization in Medical Practice:
Community Resource Net
Maureen McGlinchey
Ford and Sarah N. Pletcher Michigan State University College of Human Medicine,
East Lansing, Michigan, USA
ABSTRACT:
The impact of social and environmental factors on health is well recognized. For physicians and health care providers, addressing social issues (e.g. poverty, violence) is beyond the scope of the clinical encounter and can seem overwhelming. Navigating the patchwork quilt of community resources that communities develop to address social needs is difficult. Community Resource Net (www.communityresourcenet.org) uses technology to simplify the integration of addressing social needs into medical practice. Community Resource Net has been developed by students at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, a community-based medical school committed to serving the underserved communities of Michigan.
Community Resource Net includes a listing of links to State and National Internet resources that are relevant to daily clinical practice, regardless of specialty. The resource links have been compiled from a health care provider's perspective, and are categorized by topic (e.g. homelessness, prescription drug assistance). There are also links to chronic disease resources and patient education materials.
Community Resource Net also includes Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) downloadable Community Resource Guides for the six Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Community Campuses. The guides contain names and phone numbers of local social service agencies available for patient referral. Our goal is for the PDA guides to become as commonly used as other forms of handheld resources popular among medical students and physicians.
BENEFIT TO
PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:
Social and environmental factors have an enormous impact on health. Community Resource Net provides a model for utilizing the Internet and Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) technology for mainstreaming community resource and social service referrals into the scope of medical practice.
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Maureen McGlinchey Ford 3220 Connecticut Ave. NW #208 Washington, DC 20008 Phone: 202-248-4001 Fax: 202-544-8459 Email: mailto:mmmcglinchey@yahoo.com Website: http://www.communityresourcenet.org |
CO-AUTHORS: Sarah N. Pletcher 920 Sunset Lane East Lansing, MI 48823 Phone: 517-974-0315 |