Participants in Wisconsin Express explore intercultural and interprofessional issues they will likely encounter as future health care professionals. The goal of the program is to encourage students, as they begin their professional careers, to develop personal and group strategies to respond to the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly complex healthcare system and diverse society. Wisconsin Express promotes and advances this goal for one week every year, one student group, in one community at a time, in selected sites throughout the state.
Themes: Wisconsin Express 2010
1. Culture and Diversity
2. Regional Healthcare Resources and Challenges
3. Interprofessional Teams and Teamwork
Objectives: Wisconsin Express 2010
1. Enhance awareness of individual and collective cultural identity and diversity
2. Learn about strategies to confront health care disparities
3. Observe models of collaboration and teamwork in healthcare
Activities: Wisconsin Express 2010
Interactive workshops, field experiences, and reflection exercises will offer opportunities to:
1. Explore attitudes related to cultural differences.
2. Identify the major determinants of health by examining health care needs and resources within a specific community.
3. Compare and contrast perceptions of professional roles among various health care practitioners.
4. Practice teamwork via active participation in site activities and group projects
5. Examine how health care access, culture and socio-economic factors can influence health outcomes and create disparities.
6. Identify strategies to address issues of diversity in future practice
2010 Program dates: May 24-28, 2010
Application deadline: March 26, 2010
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Wisconsin Express is an intercultural, interprofessional immersion experience. It is not a clinical training program. Student participation does not include any direct provision of medical or health care.
What is the Wisconsin Area Health Education Center (AHEC)?
AHEC, a statewide federal program, has a mission to improve access to primary care in medically underserved areas of the state through education of health professions students and practicing health professionals, and through collaborative efforts between academic programs and local communities. The Wisconsin AHEC system consists of a statewide program office affiliated with the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and four private non-profit regional centers located around the state.
What is Wisconsin Express and what can students expect from participation in this program?
Wisconsin Express is a week-long cultural immersion experience in one of Wisconsin’s diverse communities. The dates for Wisconsin Express 2010 are May 24-28. The purpose of Wisconsin Express is to give health professions students an opportunity to observe health care systems in medically underserved and culturally diverse communities, to interact with local health care practitioners and community residents, and to learn in teams with other students. Students can expect to learn about the variety of services available, the way interdisciplinary teams of health professionals work together, the healthcare innovations in areas with limited resources, possibilities for practice in their future careers.
Who can participate?
Students enrolled in health professions programs throughout Wisconsin’s public and private colleges and universities are welcome. In the past participants have come from physical therapy, medicine, pharmacy, nursing, nutritional science, social work, physician assistant programs and others.
Where are the Wisconsin Express community sites?
Sites are rural and urban medically underserved* communities located around the state. They each have individual types of community clinics, health centers, and hospitals, with staff that welcome interactions with students to share the healthcare challenges and innovations that are unique to the community they serve.
How do students learn about health care delivery by visiting the community?
Every site offers a variety of activities for participants. In the past, students have:
• Attended presentations about local healthcare issues by members of the community
• Visited a range of community-based healthcare facilities
• Interacted with local healthcare professionals
• Interacted with community programs and representatives
When and where does the program take place?
• May 24-28, 2010
• Wisconsin Express begins on Monday morning in your community site with an interactive workshop intended as an introduction to the community experience.
• Student teams spend Monday through Friday in their communities. Activities vary but may include Presentations from community residents, Participation in community activities, Visits to community agencies and resources, Interactions with local health care professionals, Interactive learning exercises or group projects
• The experience concludes either Thursday evening or Friday morning with wrap up reflection and evaluation session.
Who coordinates the site activities?
Each student group is assigned a Site Coordinator who arranges accommodations, designs itineraries, and facilitates all activities.
How do participants dress?
Dress varies somewhat from site to site. Generally speaking, professional casual dress is appropriate. Site Coordinators provide specific information regarding what to pack to wear for the week’s activities.
How much does the program cost?
We require a confirmation fee of $50.00 from each participant. Wisconsin AHEC covers the majority of the cost of your participation, including shared accommodations in shared hotel rooms, bed and breakfasts or lodging maintained by a community organization, workshop fees, and instructional materials. Participants may be responsible for some meals. Each site varies in availability of grocery stores, restaurants, and kitchen facilities. Site specific details are provided by site coordinators. In most cases, participants provide their own transportation to the site. AHEC provides all transportation during the week. Site coordinators contact and confirm transportation arrangements with students.
Two Important Notes:
1) We arrange for all students to stay together and do not accommodate commuting, because a primary objective of this week long cultural immersion experience is developing new relationships with students from other professional programs around the state. As for friends or couples who apply to the same site, it is not our policy to do this either, for the above reasons.
2) We do not exclude participants who want to use this experience to fulfill a course-related activity in their professional program; we have no control over that. However, site coordinators do not function as faculty, and cannot alter any scheduled activities during this busy week to make extra time for participants to fulfill academic course requirements.
* The term “medically underserved communities” is generally used to describe populations in geographic areas with inadequate access to health care services. There are several measures used to determine whether or not a community is underserved. The simplest formula is the ratio of primary care physicians to total population (e.g. 1:3500). More complex formulas incorporate other indicators of access to health care, such as the number of physicians or dentists who will accept Medicaid (a program that helps pay for medically necessary medical services for needy and low-income persons. It uses state and federal government money.), the percentage of population over age 65, the percentage of populations living on an income below the poverty level, etc. Communities designated as a Medically Underserved Area (MUA), Medically Underserved Population (MUP), or Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) are eligible for state and federal programs intended to improve access to primary health care.
If you have additional questions, contact: Mary Carson Bumann:
Email: mbumann@wisc.edu phone: 608/262-7237 office: 4218e HSLC or 5765 MSC
