Developing and implementing a geriatric home visit program for the UCSD student-run free clinic project.

This project created a home visitation program to bring home health care to UCSD's Student Run Free Clinic Project (SRFCP) patients with mobility or transportation issues. Medical students were offered the opportunity to do home visits under the close supervision of a faculty physician as part of the curriculum in the Underserved Medicine selective (SOM410) or Family Medicine (FPM 426) or Underserved Medicine (FPM 432) courses. An accompanying curriculum was developed regarding home visits, geriatrics, and assessing a patient's home environment as well as the patient's medical and social needs. Pre and post-experience quiz and evaluations were created for students participating in this experience to assess knowledge, skills and attitudes towards geriatrics and home visits. From November 2011 to January 2012, a total of ten home visits have occurred at the residences of five patients aged 43 to 78 years. Students were asked to email their impressions to the Chair (Dr. Beck) and ongoing feedback and evaluation will be sought for continual improvement of this curriculum in the future. The SRFCP is in the process of looking for a first (or second year) medical student to take this project on as a Student Manager at the Baker Clinic site