Skip to main content

New Health Information Literacy Project Begins

The Health Careers Program is excited by the start of a new and inventive initiative designed to increase the health information literacy levels of high school students. In collaboration with the National Library of Medicine, MUSC Library, Colleton County High, North Charleston High, and Lowcountry Leadership schools, the South Carolina AHEC is facilitating a dynamic and creative service learning opportunity for high school students. The project provides the high school participants with an exposure to population health issues while developing valuable personal skills. As an additional outcome, the participants will create a series of enduring, educational comic books that introduce younger students to health careers. Funding for the project is provided through a grant from the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes the value of classroom instruction of functional health information and the development of skills necessary to adopt and maintain health through health-promoting behaviors. Experiential education offers a process long regarded as an effective method of instilling knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm simultaneously. These types of  educational offerings also help to facilitate a manageable and supervised progression from one level of an educational pipeline to the next.

Four student-led teams will use NLM resources to research a public health topic and the health professions associated with that topic. The teams will interview health professionals and complete an investigative report on healthcare delivery settings. The teams will use the reports will to create storyboards for the production of comic books. The comic books will guide a young reader’s exploration of the public health topic and the inter-professional involvement of healthcare workers.

School-based liaisons will work with AHEC and MUSC Library staff to deliver training and support for the identification and use of NLM and other resources to promote the improved health literacy of the participants.

To find out more about the project, contact Angelica Christie at christae@musc.edu.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

SC AHEC Scholars: Preparing the Next Generation of Primary Care Providers

Hannah Robinson, MD knew she wanted to pursue a career in healthcare from a young age.  “I’ve always wanted to be a doctor since about the sixth grade,” said Dr. Robinson. “I remember being in health class and watching the Miracle of Life video and just being fascinated with women and their ability to create and bear life.” Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Robinson spent time working on the obstetrics unit at her local hospital in Rock Hill and observed a trend with their patients. “What I noticed was a lot of the families that we serviced actually weren’t from Rock Hill. We also served surrounding counties that were really rural and seeing how these families were traveling to Rock Hill to deliver their babies was really shocking to me,” said Robinson.  Due to a maldistribution of OB/GYNs in the state of South Carolina, individuals may have to travel great distances just to receive the care they need. In its most recent South Carolina Health Professions Data Book published in 20

Lowcountry AHEC’s Strong Partnerships Serve School Nurses Statewide

For over three decades, Lowcountry AHEC has been proud to support school nurses across South Carolina in their professional development through statewide conferences and meetings. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in-person events came to a halt, Lowcountry AHEC along with their partners, were able to pivot to alternate methods to continue providing training opportunities for school nurses. One such way Lowcountry AHEC was able to adapt was implementing online modules so that school nurses could continue to receive the same professional development and learning opportunities in a virtual setting. The first course, Foundations of School Nursing , included nine modules and was uploaded to the South Carolina AHEC Learning Portal (ALP) by August 2020 . With over 1,600 registrations to this day, Foundations of School Nursing is the most popular course currently on ALP. “We began to do some work with them on online modules,” said Lowcountry AHEC Center Director Diane Mathews. “All new schoo

Mid-Carolina AHEC Meets Local Workforce Need

After discussions with multiple community partners, Mid-Carolina AHEC established a Nurse Aide Training Program in 2018 aimed at assisting regional healthcare facilities with their hiring and retention needs. The Nurse Aide Training Program is designed to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform basic care services for patients (in an acute care setting) or residents (in a long-term care setting). All classes and clinical rotations are held nearby to reduce travel for participants and Mid-Carolina AHEC works directly with both a regional rural hospital and a long-term care facility to provide training that supports facility staffing schedules. “Initially the goal was to provide the training locally, because at that time, the closest facility was about 30 miles away,” said Rebecca Jackson, a Continuing Professional Development Coordinator at Mid-Carolina AHEC. “This is a six-week course and by the end, participants are eligible to sit for their certificatio