Division of Academic Affairs
The Division of Academic Affairs (DAA) will develop its Academic Affairs workstream along three axes: 1) Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education, Staffing Partnerships, and 3) Research and Development Partnerships.
It has been shown that physicians are more likely to practice in rural settings if they train in rural settings, and thus it is in the agency’s interest to encourage medical education in our facilities as a strategic initiative towards workforce development. Furthermore, while IHS does not have a mandate towards research, we operate in unique environments - geographically, culturally, and socioeconomically - and thus the manner in which we must deliver care often calls for novel approaches that would benefit from co-development with the academic community, who are dedicated to the generation of new knowledge.
Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education
Medical Student and Resident Rotations. Many IHS facilities offer clinical rotations for medical students and residents. DAA is in the process of expanding the existing medical student rotation website to include resident rotations as well, as well as to include all participating facilities across the country. Until this development is complete, please email hq_odocphi@ihs.gov if you are searching for a specific rotation.
Longitudinal Track Programs. DAA is also in the process of developing the legal infrastructure to support the creation of longitudinal track programs for both medical students and residents. These programs will consist of track participants agreeing to participate in a series of elective rotation experiences that are tied together by a continuous curriculum throughout the course of their program. That curriculum would educate students on topics such as cultural sensitivities when working with the AI/AN population, special considerations in clinical practice in low-resource settings, orientation to the government structure of provider practice, etc.
Continuity Clinics. Some IHS sites serve as continuity clinics for residency programs, providing routine experiences working with our population and in our unique geographical setting. Please email hq_odocphi@ihs.gov if you are interested in collaborating with an IHS site in this manner.
Residency Programs. IHS currently has 1 federal facility sponsoring a residency program, and is actively engaged in soliciting interest both amongst our own facilities as well as from academic medical center partners willing to develop future programs.
Clinical Practice Guidelines
OCPHI is coordinating the development of a centralized repository of clinical practice guidelines for the agency.
The result will be a searchable bank of guidance documents for use at the:
- Department level – sites can use these service unit specific documents to facilitate the development of their own protocols
- Provider level – IHS providers can rapidly access clinical best practices to deliver high quality, evidence-based care
A link to the repository will be placed on this webpage once it has begun development.
To submit your site’s guidelines to the repository please email to hq_odocphi@ihs.gov
