Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

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  Accessibility and Normalization of wearable pronoun identification in healthcare professionals

  Dinukie-Chantal Perera

  Short-term Project

  Healthcare can be an incredibly intimidating machine to all demographics of patients. One uniquely challenged group are patients who are gender diverse, trans, and/or gender nonconforming. This group of patients experiences systemic discrimination through institutional practices embedded in healthcare.

  Gender affirming care can be improved on many levels, but one straightforward and actionable way to support gender diversity and demonstrate enthusiasm and awareness for the community is to encourage the use of pronoun pins/ labels in individuals willing to use them.

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  Patient Education: Sexual Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, and Healthy Relationships

  Elise A. Prehoda

  Short-term Project

  Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence are a public health crisis across the United States. In Vermont alone, nearly 7% of the population experiences sexual and/or domestic violence annually. Despite these numbers, less than 20% of those affected seek assistance. Increased access to education materials regarding these topics will serve to increase dialogue with at risk patients who might otherwise refrain from discussions on home or social environment. By increasing discourse and education, we hope to more frequently identify and assist patients who are experiencing violence in their relationships as well as prevent the formation of unhealthy relationships at the level of adolescence.

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  Differentiating Annual Wellness Visits and Health Maintenance Visits

  Benjamin N. Price

  Short-term Project

  Due to recent changes in workflow at the office, many visits that should be Medicare Annual Wellness Visits are incorrectly scheduled as health maintenance visits (yearly physical). These mistakes are not always identified leading to confusion for both patients and providers and unnecessary bills for the patient

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  Cervical Cancer Screening in the LGBTQ+ Community: Dispelling Common Misconceptions and Improving Patient Comfort

  Rebecca B. Rawlings

  Short-term Project

  LGBTQ+ patients are more likely to forgo cervical cancer screening due to common misconceptions/misguidance about who needs screening and increased likelihood to experience emotional and/or physical discomfort during screening visits. This project aims to educate LGBTQ+ patients on cervical cancer screening recommendations and provide them with tools to improve their experiences during screening visits.

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  Cervical Cancer Screening in the LGBTQ+ Community: Dispelling Common Misconceptions and Improving Patient Comfort

  Rebecca B. Rawlings

  Short-term Project

  LGBTQ+ patients are more likely to forgo cervical cancer screening due to common misconceptions/misguidance about who needs screening and increased likelihood to experience emotional and/or physical discomfort during screening visits. This project aims to educate LGBTQ+ patients about cervical cancer screening and provide them with tools to improve their experiences during screening visits.

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  Lifestyle Modifications to Support Mental Health

  Alexa W. Rosenthall

  Short-term Project
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  Increasing healthcare delivery to the Abenaki people through health screenings

  Warrick Sahene

  Short-term Project

  Utilizing health screenings can increase the number of Abenaki individuals identified with comorbidities related to diabetes and hypertension. Education and resources for health maintenance are also provided to this patient population through physician counseling.

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  Addressing Access and Installation of Appropriate Child Safety Seats within Fairfield County

  Alexandra Sarkis

  Short-term Project

  Motor vehicle crashes account for a vast majority of all fatal injuries in children and adolescents. Child safety seats have been shown to reduce mortality from motor vehicle crashes greatly; however, several studies have demonstrated that as many as 9 out of 10 car seats are installed incorrectly. Given the evident reduction in mortality when using a child safety restraint appropriately, the goal of this project was to educate the community about proper car seat installation techniques and to provide additional resources for families interested in obtaining a car seat safety check within the county. An additional goal was to provide transparency and subsequently improve access to car seats for families who may not be able to obtain their own.

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  Nature Is The Best Medicine

  Nathan Schweitzer

  Short-term Project

  This project examined the cost of mental health diagnosis on the health care system and how interactions with green space and nature increase mental health wellbeing. A Vermont state government program to increase access to state parks through primary care providers offices is highlighted. Interviews were conducted with a community psychologist discussing interaction with nature and its effects on mental health. The second interview was with a member of the volunteer board for the Governors council on fitness discussing the origins of the state park program.

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  Easy and accurate transition between common beta blockers: a QI project

  Sam Short and Amalia Kane

  Short-term Project

  Hypertension is a common condition that often worsens with disease progression and/or age alone. The management of hypertension often requires multiple drug therapy. Beta blockers can be useful for this, and are often prescribed for other comorbid conditions such as angina or heart failure. Yet, not all beta blockers have the same effect on blood pressure and it can be advantageous to transition patients to non-selective agents such as carvedilol. However, dose conversions are not 1:1 and inappropriate transition can be dangerous. No readily accessible resources are available to aid the clinical management of this problem. This project aims to compare two common beta blockers to bridge this gap.

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  Increasing Screening for Barriers to Transportation at a Family Medicine Clinic in Rural Upstate NY

  Noah Sorkow

  Short-term Project

  Inconsistent access to reliable transportation is a significant barrier to medical care in rural New York. Lack of transportation results in missed medical appointments, poor management of chronic conditions, and increased preventable emergency room visits. Increasing routine screening for this social determinant of health can reveal underlying barriers to care, promote referrals to case workers and increase resource allocation. This project sought to increase routine screening via the promotion of smart phrases to be included in routine wellness documentation in the EMR, in conjunction with a didactic session for current family medicine residents.

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  CBT in Primary Care

  Brianna J. Spano

  Short-term Project

  This is a community improvement project designed to address the growing need for and shortage of mental health care in Vermont. The project focuses on creating a brief training tool and guide for primary care physicians to be able to incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy in their practice.

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  Bridging the Gap between Healthcare and Haircare

  Devan Spence

  Short-term Project

  Patients are likely to see their barbers and beauticians more often than their primary care physicians, when applicable. This project is centered around empowering "paraprofessionals" such as hairdressers and barbers with knowledge to bridge the gap in identifying skin cancer early in its course. Hairdressers were interviewed at two separate locations, "The prestige" and "Dave's Barbershop." They were presented with questionnaires before and after attending 10-minute presentation on identifying various types of skin cancers and reviewing a brochure. Results indicated hairdressers felt more confident in identifying skin cancer post-presentation, on average scored themselves 4 points higher on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 representing feeling the most confident).

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  Barriers to Exercise: Fitness Made Simple

  John A. Steinharter MS

  Short-term Project

  Lifestyle modification is a necessary component of managing chronic illnesses in order to obtain the best outcomes. Exercise has been shown to be efficacious at improving outcomes in a number of different clinical contexts. Patient adherence to exercise as a lifestyle modification is lower than desired due to multifactorial etiology including socioeconomic constraints, disability, chronic pain, and motivation. This project attempts to address all four with a site specific educational pamphlet.

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  Let's Talk Menopause: A Brochure Educating and Empowering Women in Menopause

  Delaney Sztraicher

  Short-term Project

  More than 6 million women in the United States experience menopausal and postmenopausal symptoms annually. Although up to 80% of women experience vasomotor symptoms, there continues to be stigma surrounding conversations of menopause and its associated symptoms. Due to this pervasive taboo, women often dismiss or ignore their symptoms. This neglect leads to greater utilization of healthcare resources and increased productivity losses with an ultimate economic burden of more than $810 billion in the US. Studies have shown that when empowered with education women feel better prepared to manage their symptoms. This project aims to dismantle the stigma by providing women with resources and education regarding menopause to empower them to seek support and guidance as they progress into this next stage of their life.

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  Signs, Symptoms, and Clinical Approach to Monkeypox

  Sean Wang

  Short-term Project
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  Supporting Patient Education During Infant Formula Shortage: Washington County, VT

  Rachel A. Wayne

  Short-term Project

  The infant formula shortage is a current national public health concern. Many guardians of formula-fed infants are struggling to find appropriate nutrition for their babies. Families of low socioeconomic status are being disproportionately affected because many of them rely on the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC) to obtain formula, and their formula options through this program are limited. This project aims to provide Vermont families who have formula-fed infants with education and resources to navigate the formula shortage and keep their children healthy and fed.

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  Accessibility of Nutritious and Healthy Foods to Older Adults

  Kristen Wright

  Short-term Project

  Food insecurity rates are high among older adults who have chronic conditions and/or are homebound. These patients have functional limitations, comorbidities limiting their mobility, and often are socially isolated or live alone, all of which impact their ability to access or make healthy meals. As food insecurity rises, so do the health care costs related to inaccessibility to healthy food, involving the increased risk or prevalence of chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. This project aimed to understand the barriers older adults face in accessing and making healthy meals, and to educate health care providers and patients on recognizing food insecurity and utilizing resources to improve patient accessibility and availability to better nutrition and thus better health.

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  Promoting Community Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Erik J. Zhang

  Short-term Project

  The COVID-19 pandemic has affected aspects of health and community beyond the acute phase of COVID-19 infection, including chronic health conditions, mental health, substance use, food insecurity, access to healthcare, and housing insecurity. Further, existing disparities in these factors and other social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood, and physical environment have been exacerbated by the response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. Community members face negative health impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and response. They should be made aware of community resources for immediate and long-term solutions to the difficulties they experience.

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  Know Your Rights

  Victor Abraham II

  Short-term Project

  In today's growing immigration crisis, patients and providers should be aware of their rights and how to protect their patient's confidentiality adequately. Decreased knowledge of patient rights and immigration status has reduced care quality. This project seeks to increase provider and patient knowledge on immigration and associated patient rights.

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  Opportunities for Patient Self-Reflection During Acute Phase of Depression Treatment

  Millen Abselab

  Short-term Project

  This project for UVMMC Family Medicine at Hinesburg investigates the acute phase of depression treatment for adult patients and introduces opportunities for patient empowerment during this 4-to-6-week window through de-identified automated text surveys for self-reflection about treatment and pattern tracking contributory to mood. Sample text survey built on Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and deployment of text surveys is based on Mosio. Future interventions can utilize mobile phone apps based on patient response to surveys.

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  Assessing Stroke Awareness, Preparedness, and Preferred Communication Modalities

  Dana I. Allison

  Short-term Project

  Stroke is currently the fifth leading cause of death and is recognized as one of the most expensive chronic diseases in the United States, generating 30 billion dollars annually in medical costs and lost earnings. In this exploratory research study, we examine patients’ knowledge of stroke features, associated risk factors to enhance communication, and educational practices of for primary care clinicians to enhance patient preparedness and stroke outcomes for patient populations with risk factors for stroke.

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  COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy Q&A from Ridgefield Primary Care

  Raj Aurora and Ashwin Sooriyakumar

  Short-term Project
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  Wound Care in the Homeless Population- CHCB and Safe Harbor Clinic

  Niveditha Badrinarayanan

  Short-term Project

  Most of the clinician interactions in the homeless community has prioritized acute needs over chronic complaints like wounds. An inherent distrust of the healthcare system is also common in the homeless community due to lack of access to care, transportation, insurance, et. This project is aimed at encouraging preventative care in the homeless community with respect to wound care to reduce their concerns about unaddressed complaints and also decrease the burden on the providers during their healthcare visits.

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  Setting Expectations for Mental Healthcare Referral

  Emily Bennett

  Short-term Project

  Patients are referred to mental health care by their primary care providers, but there is often a misunderstanding of what that process looks like. This project aimed to understand the referral process and create improvements that will help patients stay engaged to improve their mental wellbeing.