Advisory Panel
June 5, 2006
Days Inn, Flatwoods WV
Members in
Attendance: Dennis McCutcheon,
Elizabeth “Betsy” Deggs, Gaye Mitchell, Norman Ferrari, Dave Brown, Walter
McNutt, Jill Cochran, Alison Witte, Carla See, Tom Hefner, Sonnie Strader,
Loretta Jones
Guests in Attendance:
Sharon Giles, Kathryn Greenlief, Jenny Ostien, Kim Robinson, Haylee Heinsberg,
Patti Crawford, Ralph Utzman, Dalena Riggs, Anna Reno, Malinda Turner, Penny
Asbury, Carla Campbell, Elizabeth Richmond, Nannette Van-Dyke McDonald, Deborah
Curry, Lew Holloway, Brenda Michael, Charissa Davis, Jennifer Williams,
Christie Robinson, Margaret Novacich, Derrick Day, Crystal Welch, Dan Brody,
Parr Thacker, Sandra Elza
Staff: April Vestal,
Sandra Pope, Rhonda Carpenter
Call to Order: 2:35 pm
Dennis McCutcheon, Chair
Introductions: Imogene
Foster introduced Nannette Van-Dyke McDonald, who will succeed her on the
board.
Motion to approve consent
agenda (I. Foster/N. Ferrari). Motion passed.
COMMITTEE REVIEWS AND
GROUP REPORTS:
April Vestal requested the
committee review the list of 2006 Gubernatorial Appointment Nominations for
period 07.01.06 – 06.30.09. Any corrections that are needed should be submitted
to April via e-mail as soon as possible. There was discussion regarding the
assignment of alternates, as the Governor’s office does not recognize
alternates, but will recognize designees. Since there are several alternates
who regularly attend in place of the committee member, there was some concern
expressed regarding quorums. Since the
code does not include an appointment from a representative from Allied Health,
the Panel will need to pursue options for keeping the Allied Health rep engaged
in Panel activities. This is also the
case for an AHEC Center Director position appointment to the Panel. A question was raised about Ex-Officio
members voting rights, as well. Ex-Officio members are voting members. The ORH is working on an orientation for new
Panel members that will take place at the September Panel meeting. Input will
be requested from Site Coordinators, Center Directors and others. If anyone has suggestions, please
e-mail Sandra Pope or April Vestal.
April Vestal requested
that the committee review the Strategic Work Plan document that has been
prepared and submitted by the Strategic Planning Committee. There are five
basic goals with activities under each of them. These goals will be addressed over
the next three years. Sandra presented comments from David Bowyer from
University of Charleston regarding Goal Area 2, Section 3 & 4 under column
for responsibility (should be with the Deans of the Schools and their
representatives). Norm Ferrari stated that the Schools Committee is
representative of the Deans/schools, so there is no need to make changes to the
document. Regarding Goal Area 4, it was
suggested that the Bureau for Public Health be included as an organization to
work with also. Motion to include Bureau for Public Health in the Strategic
Work Plan under Goal 4 (A. Witte/N. Ferrari). Motion passed. Another suggestion was to change the wording
under Goal Area 1, Section 4 to state, “Keep all partners engaged.” Tom Hefner
suggested, in reference to Goal 1, Section 2, that the committee receive a briefing
on the benefits of the NWVRHEC consolidation. Motion made and passed to accept
the document, with changes.
(N. Ferrari/G. Mitchell).
Margaret Novacich reported
that the Finance Committee has approved the 3rd quarter reports and
the FY 07 budget. Allocations for the FY 07 budget are the same amounts as for
FY 06. All sites are in audit compliance. The search for a Development Director
is continuing. The position will be posted in professional and national
publications.
Carla See reported that
the committee was working on four main issues. (1) Levels Policy: The impact of
the levels policy was discussed to determine if the policy had the impact we
had hoped. It was determined that the
issue of distribution should be revisited because sites could change their
level designation based upon the number of students assigned to the site. The issue has been tabled until the
September meeting, so Jodie Jackson can provide the committees with additional
statistical information. (2) IDS-IDE
Policy Training for On-Site Clinical Directors: The Joint Outreach/Curriculum
committee and Schools Committee have been meeting jointly to address issues
related to IDS/IDE. IDS/IDE training for On-Site Clinical Directors was held on
Thursday, September 23, 2005 as a pre-conference session to the Faculty
Development Conference. The new IDS/IDE
policy and the manual for interdisciplinary sessions/experiences were the
topics of the training. The Faculty Development Committee (FDC) met with the
Joint Outreach/Curriculum &
Schools committee to review their work related to IDS/IDE. The FDC met with curriculum representatives
of the various schools to discuss IDS/IDE.
Using this information and feedback from SERFE reports, the FDC will
make recommendations to the Joint Outreach/Curriculum & Schools committee.
The outcome would be to reduce the number of negative complaints
regarding interdisciplinary sessions by 50% within one year and the
identification of learning objectives for IDS/IDE. The FDC presented a concept for Community-Based Learning (CBL),
which would provide for a virtual learning environment that supports IDS/IDE
and other interprofessional experiences. The committees will continue to meet
jointly until a product or agreed upon approach is reached for this curriculum
recommendation. (3)
Service Learning:
Learning modules for specific service
learning experiences will be developed and accessible from the WVRHEP
website. The goal is to link clinical
objectives for health professions students to objectives for service learning
projects. (4) Criminal Background
Checks and Drug Screening: Changes in hospital
accreditation policies have resulted in some sites requiring criminal
background checks and/or drug screening.
While some schools have developed their own internal policies to deal
with the issue, it was suggested that RHEP offer assistance by including these
types of site requests on the website and TRACKER.
Sandra gave a Legislative
update for AHEC. Prior to May, the Senate had added 7.1 billion dollars for
health education spending when they did their budget resolution. When the House
voted on their resolution on May 17, they did not restore the 7.1 billion, but
they have two agreements in place to restore the 7.1 billion. Four billion
would come from the Defense and Foreign Operations FY07 bill. They are also
willing to establish a 3.1 billion reserve fund for health and education
programs. This support from the House is really good news. Community members
and AHEC/RHEP staff have done a good job in contacting representatives to show
their support for the program. We do not have the date for the Senate vote yet,
but Sandra will e-mail that information when it is available.
April reported that
AHEC/RHEP is working on an advocacy work plan for the next three years, which
is designed to educate legislators and elected officials about the value of the
programs. Information about that will be shared at the September Advisory Panel
meeting.
Sandra discussed the AHEC
Performance Review report. The review took place in April 2006. It was very
successful. This was the first review of this type done at an AHEC
Program. The report is available and
has been/will be sent to all Panel members. There were three performance
improvement options, not requirements, but recommendations. The first was to
reevaluate the feasibility of developing benchmarks on the goals for the number
of health professionals needed in rural areas of the state. We should also
consider developing goals for the percent of graduating students who
participated in rotations and ended up going into practice, and we should have
standardized reporting definitions for resident rotations for AHEC. The third suggestion was that we should
consider strategies for increasing student involvement in developing and
selecting community service activities that do not involve IDTs. Sandra requested the Panel’s feedback to the
report. The AHEC Program office is compiling comments and edits and will send an
edited document back to the Performance Review committee. They will prepare a
final report to which we will be able to respond.
April, Sandra, and Dennis
presented a plaque to Elizabeth “Betsy” Degges for her service to the RHEP/AHEC
program. Betsy is retiring from the Panel effective today but will continue to
serve on the Southeastern Education Consortium Board. The Panel expressed deep
appreciation to Betsy for her dedication and tireless efforts on the part of
our programs.
The Northern WV Rural
Health Education Center has two events scheduled for CMEs and CEUs. Brochures
were available to those interested.
Motion to adjourn (N. Ferrari/G. Mitchell). Passed. The meeting was adjourned at 3:40 pm.