Health Professions Student Program
Connecting Students to Communities
About the Program
Health Professions Student Programs provide community-based training experiences, exposing students to the opportunities of working in rural and underserved areas of South Carolina.
The South Carolina AHEC Health Professions Student (HPS) Program collaborates with health professions programs in our state to provide community-based education for undergraduate and graduate students. This community-based education is designed to expose students to the realities of clinical practice in rural and underserved areas and to introduce them to communities as a focus for health improvements. Regional HPS coordinators are a major resource for facilitating student placements, orienting students to communities, and organizing student projects. There are four different AHEC regions and each region has dedicated AHEC HPS coordinators.
Health Professions Student Programs Last Year
Programs and Services
Activities through the SC AHEC community-based placement programs support the goal to improve access to primary care by developing and supporting primary care professionals. SC AHEC HPS coordinators have established a network of over 500 preceptor sites willing to serve as training sites for health professions students. These sites include private clinical practices, community health centers, migrant health centers, rural health clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, and health departments.
Services
Our services vary according to region and the curriculum requirements of each academic institution, but usually include the following:
- Interface with clinical programs at academic institutions
- Recruit preceptors and clinical rotation sites
- Assist students with housing
- Orient students to communities
- Link students to community-based projects
- Conduct clinical site visits
- Facilitate interprofessional/interdisciplinary education activities
- Provide technology support
Opportunities include:
- Clinical Placements: These activities include identifying new training sites in rural and underserved areas for allied health, medical, dental medicine, physician assistant, nursing, pharmacy, and public health students; teaching students how to work as part of an interprofessional team in the delivery of care; and introducing them to population health.
- Family Medicine Rural Clerkship: This initiative is a joint effort between the UofSC School of Medicine and the MUSC College of Medicine designed to broaden the focus of medical student learning from providing individual patient care to improving the health of defined, rural, underserved populations in South Carolina. Find out more on the Family Medicine Rural Clerkship website.
- Medical Student Elective Rotations: South Carolina AHEC coordinates a number of elective rotations for fourth-year medical students in a variety of communities and settings.
Housing
The four regional AHEC centers have housing resources for student use while on their community-based rotations. Housing location, availability and requirements vary by region. Please contact your South Carolina regional AHEC coordinator via the links below to find out more about housing options.
Contact Regional Centers for Placement and Housing Information
Contact your regional AHEC Health Professions Student Programs coordinator for more information about opportunities in your region.
Not sure which region you are in? Use our Region Finder to contact your local AHEC center.
Now fully virtual | Monthly seminar series | Open to all graduate health professions students
Join the dialogue about the future of primary care! What should healthcare look like in the future? Put what you've learned into practice with this series of online seminars featuring case-based learning, guest speakers, and chances to interact with interprofessional groups of health professions students and providers from across the state.
AHEC Scholars credit available. All students who attend 5 or more seminars will receive a recognition certificate.
The Institute for Primary Care began in 2013 with funding from The Duke Endowment. Since its inception, the Institute has been providing a monthly interprofessional seminar series; an annual conference; and opportunities for mentorship, networking, and leadership to students who are interested in and committed to primary care.
2024-2025 Seminar Dates
IPC seminars take place monthly during the academic year via WebEx. Examples of seminar topics include: mental health care teams and resources in rural areas, suicide prevention, treating patients with opioid use disorder, maternal and child health, and collaborations with community-based pharmacists.
- Fall
- September 9, 2024 - Serving the Underserved in South Carolina
- October 14, 2024
- November 11, 2024
- Spring
- January 13, 2025
- February 10, 2025
- March 10, 2025
- April 14, 2025
Participate in IPC Seminars
If you have questions or would like to be added to the email list and get notified about upcoming seminars, contact Shaquana Randall at randals@musc.edu or 843-792-4429.
South Carolina AHEC’s Interprofessional Team Case Conference (ITCC) are unique opportunities for students from multiple disciplines and academic institutions across the state to learn from each other, work together to discuss a case of a patient in a rural, underserved area of South Carolina and to develop a longitudinal care plan.
Examples of participating health professions include: Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Social Work, Physical Therapy, Medicine, Public Health, Pharmacy, and Community Health Workers.
How It Works
- Review the case study (approximately 1-2 hours) and submit your answers to 9-10 questions about the case prior to the session.
- Participate in the ITCC session via WebEx.
- Complete the questionnaire upon conclusion of the ITCC assessing this learning experience.
Project Focus & Completion
Areas of focus for the case conference will include:
- Goals for the management of the patient.
- Consultations, as appropriate, and how to facilitate them.
- Community resources available to aid with the patient’s care.
- Development of a comprehensive, team-focused care plan and identification of goals in the patient’s care.
- Patient/Caregiver education.
- Population health-related implications of this case.
A questionnaire will be distributed at the conclusion of the ITCC seeking your assessment of this learning experience. Upon completion, you will receive a recognition letter from academic leaders at MUSC and SC AHEC that you can include on your curriculum vitae as a scholarly learning experience.
2024-2025 ITCCs
- Tuesday, August 13 | Casey Miller (Pediatric)
- Tuesday, September 17 | Mr. Chapman (Adult)
- Tuesday, October 8 | Sergio (Pediatric)
- Tuesday, November 12 | Mr. Chapman (Adult)
- Tuesday, December 10 | Casey Miller (Pediatric)
- Tuesday, January 14, 2025 | Mr. Chapman (Adult)
- Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | Sergio (Pediatric)
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | Mr. Chapman (Adult)
- Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | Casey Miller (Pediatric)
- Tuesday, April 15, 2025 | Mr. Chapman (Adult)
Sign up for an ITCC
If you have questions, or to participate in an upcoming ITCC, please contact Marti Sturdevant at sturdev@musc.edu.
Live, webinar, online modules and on-demand videos are available for health professions students via the AHEC Learning Portal registration system.
The AHEC Learning Portal hosts programs on telehealth, interprofessional practice, rural health and practice, and more!
Go to AHEC Learning Portal
Family Medicine Interest Day promotes the specialty of family medicine and recruits medical students into South Carolina's family medicine residency programs. Medical students have the opportunity to attend skills workshops and network with family medicine residency program faculty and staff members and their residents. Second- through fourth-year students from medical schools in South Carolina and across the southeast are invited to attend. The event is a joint venture between South Carolina AHEC, the South Carolina Family Medicine Residency Programs, and the South Carolina Academy of Family Physicians.
2024 Family Medicine Interest Day
Date and Time:
Saturday, August 24, 2024
11:00am - 5:00pm
Location:
Cooperative Conference Center
169 Laurelhurst Ave
Columbia, SC 29210
Registration for this year's event is now closed. Please check back later for information about 2025 events.
For questions about Family Medicine Interest Day, please contact Lauri Riddell at riddelll@musc.edu.
To address the maldistribution of healthcare providers in South Carolina, South Carolina AHEC administers health professional incentive programs for the state, including:
- Rural Incentive Grant Program
- Rural Dentist Loan Repayment Program
- Rural Behavioral Health Professional Incentive Grant Program
Supporting Our Future Healthcare Workforce
"Thank you all for helping make my second rotation at Spartanburg Area Mental Health a wonderful one. My preceptors have been very influential and aided greatly in my learning. The AHEC housing has been a blessing! The apartment and amenities exceeded my expectations and I am very thankful for the housing. As a student, it reduced my financial burden greatly and I am so appreciative. Thank you for all that you do!"
Join South Carolina AHEC Scholars
Are you interested in rural and underserved care? Apply for the SC AHEC Scholars program for an opportunity to collaborate with fellow health profession students from various disciplines and institutions across the state.
Learn More about AHEC Scholars