Read, Reflect, Respond: Journal Clubs for Equitable Care
Colin Colter, MS, PA-C, and his team at Wayne State University are advancing equitable care by pairing cultural humility training with community outreach.
Wayne Country ranks last among Michigan’s 83 counties in health outcomes and the social and economic conditions that shape them. While instruction addresses health disparities, there is a gap between knowing disparities exist and knowing how to practice equitably.
To bridge this gap, PA students will participate in journal clubs to examine the structures that contribute to health outcomes, including structural racism, race-based medicine, food access and metabolic disease, implicit bias, and the built environment.
The program equips students “to question the clinical heuristics they inherit rather than apply them unexamined,” said Colter. “Equitable practice is a career-long discipline.”
Outreach events will enhance learning. The events will offer free diabetes risk screening with point of care A1c testing, blood pressure measurement, and health education. Community members may be enrolled in a fresh food prescription program and connected to additional care at federally qualified health centers.
Clinical laboratory science students will support testing and invited participation from nursing, pharmacy, social work, and public health students will foster interprofessional education.
The project will assess community and learner outcomes and develop a toolkit to equip others to examine structural factors impacting health and wellbeing.
Colter added, “I am training PAs who will practice in Detroit and places like it. What I want most is for them to leave my program able to see the structures around their patients and equipped to respond.”
The Health Foundation is pleased to support this initiative that immediately serves the local community while building essential capacity that PA students will carry into practice.
This project was supported by the Kathy J. Pedersen Grant to Promote Equitable Care.