Classes
Medical student-run community clinics
Clinica Tepati | The Imani Clinic | Joan Viteri Memorial Clinic | The Paul Hom Clinic | Shifa Clinic
UC Davis medical students and physicians make significant contributions to the health of underserved populations in the Sacramento area through their volunteer efforts at several community clinics. These clinics train students in delivering primary care services while simultaneously improving access to care in underserved communities. The programs have been recognized nationally as an exemplary partnership between an academic medical center and the community.
Medical students, typically in their first or second year, and undergraduates who staff the clinics receive course credit. At least two volunteer licensed physicians supervise the students.
Clinic services offered at various locations include prenatal and well baby/child examinations, immunizations and physical exams for school-age children, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and hypertension, pregnancy testing and other women's health services, preventive education and flu shots.
For students, especially the minority students, volunteering at these clinics keeps them grounded as to why they decided to pursue careers in medicine in the first place. Many students who serve in the community clinics choose primary care specialties when entering residency training.
These clinics survive because of student dedication.
- 85 percent of UC Davis medical students volunteer at the student clinics during their years at the medical school.
- The clinics serve largely indigent populations, often providing them with their only access to health care.
- The clinics are an integral part of the first two years' curriculum at UC Davis School of Medicine
- With the exception of the CARES clinic, the clinics are run completely by student governing boards, making UC Davis the only University of California medical school with student-run clinics.
- The clinics are staffed entirely by volunteers including UC Davis faculty, undergraduate students, medical students and the community.
- Undergraduate students act as interpreters, patient advocates, receptionists, and lab workers. Many undergraduate student volunteers are planning for careers in health care. Volunteering in the clinics provides an early opportunity for hands-on training that would otherwise not be available to them.
- The clinics provide an invaluable safety-net for Sacramento's medically indigent people, saving money that would otherwise be spent in hospital emergency rooms. The clinics also afford a better utilization of valuable hospital resources, providing non-emergent care outside of overly impacted emergency room facilities.
- The clinics serve a valuable two-fold function. Serving as a teaching tool, they provide pre-clinical students with exposure to complexities and challenges of clinical medicine. They also provide a valuable public outreach effort to the medically underserved.