NC AHEC Program 2019-2020 Year in Review

CONTENTS A CHALLENGING YEAR

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From our Director’s Desk

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RECRUIT Health Careers & Workforce Diversity

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TRAIN Student & Preceptor Services Graduate Medical Education Continuing Professional Development

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RETAIN Practice Support Library & Information Services

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STATEWIDE PROJECTS

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COVID-19 INITIATIVES

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AHEC Regional Directory

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A CHALLENGING YEAR IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC that has compelled us to take better care of ourselves and one another, we hope that this year-in-review finds you and your loved ones healthy. While the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (NC AHEC) Program has a nearly 50-year history in our state, no year has quite been like the last one in which we supported our health care workforce in response to the spread of coronavirus.

We had to not only face a global health crisis, but also the structural racism that has historically injured our communities. As a program that was developed to affect change, we will continue to strengthen and refocus our education of providers, faculty, and presenters on health equity and social determinants of health which have a direct impact on the health of our state.

We invite you to learn more about what our regional AHECs have offered before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what we have planned for the future of health in North Carolina, in this annual report.

OUR MISSION AND VISION Our mission is to provide and support educational activities and services with a focus on primary care in rural communities and those with less access to resources to recruit, train, and retain the workforce needed to create a healthy North Carolina.

Our vision is a state where every North Carolinian is healthy and supported by a well-trained health workforce that reflects the communities it serves.

Visit ncahec.net for more information.

In April 2020, our RN REFRESHER PROGRAM waived tuition and fees for a three-month accelerated course option to encourage experienced RNs to return to the field to respond to the growing demand for nurses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic (pg. 13).

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FROM OUR DIRECTOR’S DESK

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has required a significant shift in our day-to-day operations as a program. We’re working remotely. We’re utilizing more virtual programming than ever before. We’re introducing new statewide and local initiatives to better serve the health workforce during this public health crisis.

At the same time, social unrest and attention to systemic racism have reminded us of our commitment to the values of diversity, excellence, and integrity in all aspects of our program and our long-standing commitment to fulfill our vision where every North Carolinian is healthy and supported by a health workforce that reflects the communities it serves.

Our responses to these challenges fit perfectly within our scope of work through the alignment of our mission and vision. We continue to strive to

HUGH TILSON has served as the Director of the NC AHEC Program since October 2018.

ensure that everything we do is in support of the wellbeing of all of our communities.

Included in that work is the invitation of two new leaders into our Program Office, which includes Lisi Martinez Lotz, Director of Planning & Innovation, and Tara Shuler, Director of Operations & Diversity. Their expertise and fresh perspective will allow us to continue to improve upon all that we do.

Tara’s arrival also means we are nearing the end of Beckie Knight’s 30+ years with NC AHEC. We will always know her to be part of our AHEC family and be grateful for her immense contributions to our work.

The NC AHEC Program has an almost 50 year history of excellence in supporting North Carolina and it’s health professionals. We rose to the

challenges we faced this year and I couldn’t be prouder of this Program, the amazing people who do this important work and the impact we’ve had.

I invite you to explore this year-in-review to look back on some of the highlights of what we have accomplished as a system during the past year, and look forward to how we will continue the work that AHEC has always done to recruit, train, and retain the health workforce in North Carolina.

Hugh Tilson Director, NC AHEC Program

“The COVID-19 pandemic has required a significant shift in our day-to-day operations as a program. Our responses to these challenges fit perfectly within our scope of work through the alignment of our mission and vision.” |5 3

DID YOU KNOW?

RECRUIT

Health Careers & Workforce Diversity Emphasizing underrepresented minorities, rural communities, and underserved populations, we identify gaps in the educational pipeline and work to foster interest in health care careers. Each of the nine AHECs, the Duke AHEC Program, and the NC AHEC Program Office has a health careers and workforce diversity liaison who initiates the development of programs and activities that meet the needs of the regions.

In 2019-20, we delivered nearly 150 pathway programs to support high school and college students in their pursuit of health professions, and over 3,700 unique participants attended health careers programming across the state.

NORTHWEST AHEC hosted its popular Camp Med Program entirely online for the first time ever over the summer of 2020. The free program recruited over 900 student participants from the Northwest AHEC region and beyond to access 20+ hours of digital content to help them plan for future careers in health.

To avoid interrupting its Youth Health Services Corps (YHSC) programming due to the cancellation of in-person activities, EASTERN AHEC transitioned their curriculum to a virtual format to continue serving over 250 students across nine schools.

The virtual health science summer camp offered

by GREENSBORO AHEC provided rising 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-graders with three days of guest speakers from growing and evolving health fields and interactive group exercises, including a virtual medical simulation lab tour and a vape health education TikTok video contest.

Jacqueline Wynn is the Associate Director of Health Careers and Workforce Diversity and has spent 37 years working with the NC AHEC Program, with one year spent serving as the interim chief executive officer of the National AHEC Organization.

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In 2020, AHEC saw a 20% rise in health careers and workforce diversity program participants, due in part to an increase in the use of Zoom and other eLearning platforms.

With an emphasis on individuals from underrepresented minorities, disadvantaged and rural backgrounds, and first-generation college students, the NC AHEC SCHOLARS PROGRAM launched in 2018 continues to recruit students pursuing degrees in the health sciences to improve the diversity and distribution of health professionals in our state. Selected applicants participate in a two-year program including 40 hours of didactics and 40 hours of clinical work covering interprofessional education, social determinants of health, practical clinical skills, health disparities, and more.

NC AHEC participants belong to a national network of AHEC Scholars. Visit ncahecscholars.net for more information.

SOCIALLY DISTANCED SUMMER LEARNING FINDS ITS STRIDE Over previous summers, health careers pathway programs were held at all four hospitals in the AREA L AHEC region. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, students were unable to attend programs at those facilities. Instead, one summer camp was hosted by Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina, where students were able to participate in socially-distanced activities after passing a daily health screening.

An average day in the summer program included simulation labs in the nursing and biology department that focused on respiratory health and other hands-on learning activities on how viruses affect the lungs. The students were also able to participate in a Stop the Bleed course

where they learned how to effectively intervene on injuries ranging from minor cuts to limbthreatening injuries.

Area L AHEC Scholars also offered a panel discussion on the statewide health careers All participants underwent wellness checks and symptom screenings upon arrival, wore protective masks, and practiced careful social distancing and handwashing.

program as well as specifics about Barton College’s academic offerings. Students also held discussions on health disparities and the importance of service involvement.

Rania Benlerneb, a senior at Fike High School, said the camp was a positive experience. “We talked about what we wanted to be and how we could get there,” she shared.

In mid-July, Area L AHEC, the Wilson Education Partnership (WEP), and Barton College offered a 5-day summer camp to thirteen high school students who had expressed interest in pursuing careers in health care. |7

QUESTIONS?

RECRUIT

ALAN BROWN Associate Director of Student Services alan_brown@ncahec.net 919-966-0814

Student & Preceptor Services

As part of our mission to meet the state’s health workforce needs, NC AHEC supports health sciences students from North Carolina colleges and universities and helps schools secure community practitioners, or preceptors, to teach the next generation of professionals.

Despite cancelled clinical rotations and temporary suspensions in housing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NC AHEC exposure and social distancing guidelines were developed to be used by regional AHEC housing operations statewide. We were able to offer over

NC AHEC operates housing in 50 counties and approximately 60 towns and cities across the state. The majority of AHEC housing is provided through apartments and AHEC-owned lodging, but private residences are also utilized—especially in rural areas—with the goal of making communitybased education at clinical sites more accessible.

“Providing housing for students who are learning to care for us and our loved ones is one of our goals,” said Hugh Tilson, Director of the NC AHEC Program. “Short-term affordable housing can be difficult to find, and this resource allows students to be more engrained in the community while they work in that area. Students are more likely to locate to those areas if they have a positive experience.”

That’s why NC AHEC surveyed chief academic officers of North Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities (NCICU) in 2020 to gauge interest in AHEC housing, with an opportunity to detail the specifics of their students’ short-term housing needs, including the length and locations of their rotations. In turn, our program was able to expand our support to those who expressed interest.

“It’s important to us that we are supporting all university students in the state to the best of our ability. While we are typically unable to meet 100% of all housing requests, we are committed to expanding these offerings in order to make community-based training sites a possibility for more students looking to complete their clinical training,” Alan said.

49,000 nights of housing and serve 1,486 students from 2019-20.

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ALAN BROWN, Associate Director of Student Services, oversees our statewide services to students and preceptors.

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WHAT DOES ORPCE DO? The OFFICE OF REGIONAL PRIMARY CARE EDUCATION (ORPCE) is established at each of the nine regional AHECs to facilitate the teaching of primary care students in community settings. The mission of ORPCE is to facilitate quality, community-based, primary care education for health science students. We arrange short-term housing so health sciences students can complete their community rotations. We also help facilitate community placement and problem-solve logistical issues.

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Recruit and train new community preceptors The living room of Greensboro AHEC’s new ORPCE 3-bedroom apartment available to medical students on clinical rotations in Reidsville.

We provide financial, informational, and educational incentives to providers willing to precept, and we support preceptor development with approved training courses and by providing preceptors with full access to the AHEC Digital Library, In 2020 alone, the NC AHEC Program provided support to nearly 1,500 preceptors across all AHEC regions.

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Support rural clinical experiences

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Long-term efforts focus on rural housing shortages

In addition to supporting over 78,000 clinical hours across twelve counties, MOUNTAIN AHEC is also looking ahead to the future. Having built and maintained relationships with ten committed rural housing providers, MAHEC is continuing to focus long-term efforts on rural housing shortages and designing a solid housing strategy to meet future needs.

In 2020, GREENSBORO AHEC opened a new co-ed space in Rockingham County to accommodate students pursuing new rural rotations at Annie Penn Hospital. With students often traveling from the UNC School of Medicine at Chapel Hill to work with preceptors in Reidsville, this housing expansion gives added flexibility to those working with the specialists in general surgery.

JOSEPH MOO-YOUNG, a medical student at UNC-Chapel Hill who utilized AHEC housing for a rotation in the Greensboro AHEC region.

“I appreciated how seamless the process for requesting and using housing was. When I was busy in the hospital with clinical learning and patient care activities, having safe, accessible, and convenient housing at the end of the day was something that helped make my experience even better.”

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QUESTIONS?

TRAIN

ADAM ZOLOTAR, MD Interim Associate Director of Graduate Medical Education adam_zolotor@med.unc.edu 919-843-4817

Graduate Medical Education

Supporting graduate medical education is at the core of NC AHEC’s mission to train the workforce needed to create a healthy North Carolina. That’s why we are educating the next generation of providers in our community-based residency programs across the state.

While the traditional structure of our residencies was disrupted by the spread of COVID-19, regional AHECs were able to pivot their programming to support faculty and provide residents with the best medical professional training possible so that they can continue to serve their community while following safety procedures.

DID YOU KNOW?

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NC AHEC supports 19 residency programs in family medicine, general surgery, psychiatry, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology across five AHEC regions and four medical schools.

Due to the postponement of in-person activities, CHARLOTTE AHEC had to find a way to continue serving the graduate students in their pharmacy residency programs. As a result, 11 of these programs were offered through live webinars as part of a grand rounds series. These events provided residents with the opportunity to share their knowledge on speciality topics with their other colleagues.

In 2019-20, GREENSBORO AHEC was able to offer a series on telehealth services to prepare residents and faculty for virtual appointments in addition to deploying another team in Family Medicine to support workforce surge planning. Beginning in July 2021, Greensboro will also offer a new residency program in psychiatry to address the increased need for mental health care providers in North Carolina.

NC AHEC residency programs encourage community outreach and engagement. That’s why SOUTH EAST AHEC partnered with New Hanover Regional Medical Center to address racial inequities in their region. They hosted an interdisciplinary grand round for providers and the Wilmington Police department to present on how implicit bias affects the medical community and law enforcement.

AHEC residents are more likely to stay in North Carolina than non-AHEC residents, helping to reverse the trend toward shortages and the uneven distribution of primary care physicians in the state’s rural areas In 2019-20, SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC saw 80% of their graduate residents remain in practice in North Carolina.

SAM CYKERT, MD, is transitioning to retirement after serving as the Associate Director of Graduate Medical Education in the NC AHEC Program Office for over 30 years.

WHY CHOOSE AN AHEC RESIDENCY PROGRAM?

racial backgrounds, and health issues that range from simplest to the most complex.

One-on-one training. AHEC residents train in community-based and university settings with an appointed faculty member who is available for advice and consultation. Intensive, comprehensive clinical and didactic education is offered to AHEC residents in a highly respected and supportive learning environment.

Diverse learning experiences. Clinical rotations offer opportunities to work with community preceptors, regional health departments, university clinics, correctional institutions, outreach clinics and in other community partnerships. These environments provide a chance to work with populations with diverse ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic and

Continuity of practice. One of the strengths of the NC AHEC resident experience is its focus on community-based learning. Whether in a university program or a hospital-based program, residents see the same patients over the three-year period of their residency.

Customized curriculums. NC AHEC residency programs allow residents to work with faculty and program directors to create learning approaches that are customized to the needs and special interests of the individual.

Teaching faculty work with the resident to create a curriculum that will match his or her professional goals. They encourage residents to explore their interests in a specialty or subspecialty while they develop the firm foundation to provide excellent patient care no matter the circumstances.

Innovative technology. Learning to integrate the latest technology into the practice of medicine is at the forefront of every AHEC resident’s experience. The use of electronic devices for access to electronic medical records, lab results and prescription assistance allows learning to occur at the point of care. Life-long learning through evidence-based information technologies is supported by NC AHEC librarians and the AHEC Digital Library.

Making a difference. NC AHEC is committed to demonstrating first-hand the personal and professional rewards of working in primary care practice. NC AHEC residencies provide the ideal combination of academic education, handson-clinical experience, and expert support for personal decision-making that prepare physicians to have a positive impact on the health outcomes of their patients.

Residency teaching programs are central to the reason that NC AHEC was established in the early 1970s —to create a statewide infrastructure to expand the number, the diversity, and the training of primary care physicians. ||11 9

QUESTIONS?

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Continuing Professional Development

Easy access to quality, timely, and engaging virtual educational content became more vital to health professionals than ever this year. While our in-person continuing professional development (CPD) offerings were reduced in order to stop the spread, AHECs across the state adapted and redeveloped their course offerings in order to reach the members of our workforce who needed them most.

Through our embrace of educational technology to faciliate the delivery of our programming in a remote learning environment, NC AHEC saw 58,552 unique participants in over 9,000 programs in the state over 2019-20.

9,243 UNIQUE CPD EVENTS 12|

Despite an overall decline in CPD participation, several AHECs found that online participation exceeded their expectations. SEAHEC noticed increased engagement, serving over 10,500 customers in CPD this year, a signifcant increase from 2019.

NORTHWEST AHEC marked ten years of distribution of local and national perinatal health trends through its newsletter, the Perinatal Post.

The biannual publication also disseminates professional development opportunities to its readership. EASTERN AHEC also celebrated growth in its perinatal health education offerings, having secured state funding to continue supporting its Maternal Mortality Grant and other programs.

JILL FORCINA, PhD Associate Director of IPE, CPD, and Nursing jill_forcina@ncahec.net 919-966-0815

PROJECT ECHO® The UNC-Chapel Hill Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Project (GWEP), UNC ECHO Nursing Home Project, and MOUNTAIN AHEC have been funded to continue offering Project ECHO telementoring to nursing homes through July 2021. At least 92 nursing homes completed 16 weeks of didactic sessions on topics such as PPE, new treatment modalities, and more.

These projects reached 58% of the 432 nursing homes in our state.

For more information, please contact Cristine Henage at cristine_henage@med.unc.edu.

In all, the DUKE AHEC PROGRAM collaborated with nearly every regional AHEC on a number of disicipline conferences across the state, including the Best in Pain Management Conference led and hosted by WAKE AHEC.

Jill Forcina provides leadership and support for nursing initiatives andn leads CPD activities within the Program Office and across the Regional AHECs.

STRENGTHENING OUR NURSING WORKFORCE IN A TIME OF NEED The RN REFRESHER PROGRAM, offered as part of a collaboration between the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program (NC AHEC), the UNC School of Nursing and the UNC Friday Center for Continuing Education, waived tuition and fees for a three-month accelerated course option during April 2020. As a result, Regional AHECs served a record number of registrants, with 189 nurses pursuing the accelerated track last year.

The RN Refresher Program includes a theory course and clinical practicum designed for nurses who have lapsed in their licensure and active nurses who are looking to update their knowledge. While the program typically takes nine months to complete, the accelerated track encouraged experienced RNs from across the state to complete the theory course in three months and return to the field to respond to the growing demand for nurses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. AHECs around the state were involved in working with their regional participants in their completion of the course.

First developed in the 1980s to address North Carolina’s nursing shortage, the program includes 24 self-paced learning modules and a 160-hour clinical practicum.

Nearly every region noted the uptick in enrollment in the refresher program in their annual reports.

At the beginning of 2021, NC AHEC continued the spirit of this work by partnering with the North Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA) to recruit volunteer nurses for vaccination efforts, which has already reached all 100 counties.

The UNC Sheps Center Workforce Blog found that critical care nurses would be in great demand due to the increase in COVID patients.

By 2025, North Carolina is estimated to experience a shortage of nearly 3,000 nurses. The RN Refresher Program exists so that professionals looking to get back into the field can do so online without having to sacrifice their existing schedule. | 13

CONTACT US

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Providers can access our services by emailing practicesupport@ncahec.net or by dialing 919-445-3508.

Practice Support

Providers have been faced with a number of competing priorities in the past year, and our practice support coaches are here to help them navigate those changes to our health care system so that they can provide the best care possible to their communities.

In doing so, our team has strengthened its relationships with NC AHEC Program partners to ensure that our resources and communications surrounding the spread of coronavirus are coordinated. In addition to that work, 32 practice support coaches served over 650 primary care practices with quality improvement, health information technology and other practice support needs.

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NC HEALTHCONNEX, the state’s designated health information exchange, continues to recruit practices to participate in its online portal for clinical facilities.

As a result of our partnership, we are offering a library of virtual training modules to orient providers to the virtual platform. Providers can register for a series of seven video trainings, each providing an orientation to the features and services available at no cost. These videos cover topics including direct messaging, an overview of the clinical portal, and an orientation to NC*Notify, an alert system to help providers track their patient’s care.

In the midst of a pandemic, these modules offer a stress-free method of receiving training and staying up-to-date on all applications within NC HealthConnex. In order to access the series, any participant can register by visting the NC HIEA and NC AHEC partnership page at hiea.nc.gov.

MEDICAID TRANSFORMATION is around the corner. With a go-live date of July 1, 2021 in North Carolina, NC AHEC Practice Support is committed to ensuring providers, practice managers, and quality managers have access to the most up-to-date tools and information on Medicaid Managed Care.

Our efforts include the coordination and distribution of three ongoing evening webinar series on a range of NC Medicaid subjects, from clinical & quality topics to the Advanced Medical Home (AMH) Program. Our partnership also offers COVID-19 vaccine administration assistance and other hot topics.

Beginning in March 2021, NC AHEC will begin providing virtual PHP Meet & Greet sessions to provide an opportunity for healthcare providers and staff to ask questions of the health plans.

Events will focus on primary care & speciality providers, long term care, and beviorial health.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE COVID-19 RESPONSE DURING THE 2019-20 FISCAL YEAR, resources were transitioned from Medicaid Transformation to coordinate a COVID-19 response with the state. With this reallocation and funding from other partners, NC AHEC was able to lead the development of a rich resouce library on an array of topics including telehealth & coding resources, patient education tools, personal wellness for health care providers, and more.

“We were able to help our partners in a unique way,” shared Chris Weathington, Director of Practice Support in the NC AHEC Program Office. “With our coaches equipped to provide virtual one-to-one COVID-19 related technical assistance, we have the flexibility of being able to pivot and identify the type of support needed in that moment.”

As Director of Practice Support, CHRIS WEATHINGTON leads our partnerships with state organizations to serve rural providers.

Developed in collaboration with Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC), these resources included 32 tip sheets, toolkits and playbooks addressing a variety of COVID-19 topics including telehealth, PPE, financial loan programs, reopening strategies, patient population management checklists, resilience and mental health strategies for healthcare workers, workforce skills surge planning, and provider reentry skills refreshers. This collateral was shared with individual practices and professional associations to distribute to their memberships.

In recognizing how COVID-19 complicates the capacity of families to schedule well-child visits, particularly in minority communities, NC AHEC continued our partnership with CCNC to offer the KEEPING KIDS WELL program.

Our work included hosting and sponsoring over 140 webinars, most of which covered topics related to COVID-19 and Medicaid Managed Care.

“Because of COVID-19 a large number of children are not getting immunized with the state-required vaccines the way they were prior to COVID-19,” said Chris Weathington, NC AHEC Practice Support director.

That’s why NC AHEC and CCNC reached out to priority practices to help them improve their well-child care measures. The collaborative also provides a collection of provider and patientfacing materials and FAQs to help practices and parents alike learn more about the importance of up-to-date immunizations. Providers interested in these resources can learn more from our practice support team using our contact information.

“With our coaches equipped to provide virtual one-to-one COVID-19 related technical assistance, we have the flexibility of being able to pivot and identify the type of support needed in that moment.” | 15

QUESTIONS?

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Library and Information Services

Libraries are a core part of the education and support that AHEC provides to North Carolina. Each of the nine AHEC locations has its own library, complete with a librarian staff prepared to meet the unique needs of the health care providers in their counties. In addition to this support, the AHEC Digital Library (ADL) ensures that all providers in the state have high-quality health information at their fingertips.

Our librarians modified their workflows in order to support the provider community in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on to learn more about that work and a few of our annual regional highlights.

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MONIQUE MACKEY Director of Library Services monique.mackey@arealahec.org 252-972-6958

Our librarians at SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC assisted in the development of AHEC Scholars Institute modules by verifying creative commons licenses and obtaining permission to use copyrighted works in the presentations.

Beginning in 2019, CHARLOTTE AHEC started hosting quarterly Pop-Up passport and public library events for Atrium Health employees and their families. During this quarterly event, representatives from the U.S. State Department and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library set up tables in the library to provide customers and their family members with a full range of passport and public library services.

WAKE AHEC librarians accompianied CPD program offerings with curated library guides that included key references from each presentation and evidence-based medical information for

AHEC librarians contributed to a number of COVID-19 literature guides hosted by our health partners. This included the resources hub hosted

by UNC University Libraries. In addition, the ADL curates guides on its own website that feature specific topics, most recently a collection of

attendees in a digital format.

behaviorial health resources for clinical staff.

AHEC LIBRARIANS OFFER TIMELY CLINICAL RESOURCES

Librarians across AHECs developed and curated solutions to disseminate necessary information on the pandemic to members of our provider community who needed it most. In the MOUNTAIN AHEC region alone, more than 30% of library service interactions were related to COVID-19, and service to Practice Support tripled as a result.

In response to the volume of requests, NC AHEC began offering free use of 5MinuteConsult to all North Carolina health care providers in April 2020. The online tool provided fast, evidencebased answers to clinical questions at the point of care regardless of a provider’s membership status with the AHEC Digital Library (ADL) .

ESSENTIAL EVIDENCE PLUS is the latest clinical consult tool that AHEC Library Services has made available to all NC providers on the AHEC Digital Library website.

Clinicians were able to access browsable resources for diagnosis, treatment, and patient education on thousands of diseases at no cost throughout the summer months.

AHEC librarians have been able to continue this work in 2021 with the support of recently acquired funding from the SECU Foundation.

NC AHEC is now offering NC providers, regardless of ADL membership status, access MONIQUE MACKEY is the service line leader for the AHEC LIbrary and Vice President of AREA L AHEC.

to Essential Evidence Plus, another robust and comprehensive clinical decision support tool.

Systems like these are able to aggregate and summarize the latest medical literature on a searchable topic to present providers with the most relevant findings possible. With a simple user interface, clinicians can search for resources on Essential Evidence Plus while working with a patient, helping their practice to provide the most informed and comprehensive care possible.

“Tools like Essential Evidence Plus help us empower providers to improve their patient outcomes on a daily basis. With recommendations coming directly from the most relevant literature, it’s one of the most useful resources we can offer.” | 17

STATEWIDE PROJECTS Developing the Workforce for a Healthy North Carolina

In addition to fulfilling the work owned by our six core service lines, our program also coordinates a number of designated statewide projects. These projects often cross service lines and our model to recruit, train, retain the health care workforce needed to create a healthy North Carolina. With goals and outcomes set by the Program Office and work led by regional AHECs, these initiatives touch on multiple areas of our mission statement.

These pages summarize our most recent statewide work to help secure the health of North Carolinians in the months and years ahead.

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The Consortium for Clinical Education and Practice (CCEP). As a coalition of 96 academic partners, 29 health systems, and over 60 health facilities, the CCEP is organized to identify, prioritize, and address clinical placement issues for health science students across all nine AHEC regions.

The CCEP meets regularly to address clinical capacity issues, facilitate the placement of students in a given region, and standardize processes related to preceptorship and clinical education.

Founded by Kathy Clark at WAKE AHEC, the CCEP focuses their efforts on three key areas: (1) standardize clinical faculty and student credentialling, (2) develop one common orientation for students and faculty, and (3) streamline the clinical placement process.

Having a common “passport” streamlines the process, easing the administrative burden on

community faculty and training sites while making it easier for students to complete the onboarding process.

Results-Based Accountability. NC AHEC, in collaboration with NC Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, and the Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation, Inc. (FHLI), is developing the infrastructure to support Results-Based Accountability (RBA) training in North Carolina.

This includes development of a statewide RBA curriculum, developing faculty, training a community of learners, and linking the community of learners though evidence-based telementoring.

With leadership coming from EASTERN AHEC, the RBA curriculum, Results-Based Accountability: Do the Right Things and Do Them Well, is a 10-hr virtual workshop being offered by the NC AHECs multiple times this spring.

A COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER is a trusted member of the population they serve who can act as a liaison between social & health services and the community to improve their care.

Community Health Workers. In the weeks immediately after the pandemic spread to the United States, disadvantaged communities were faced with reduced access to care, a widening digital divide, and inadequate supplies, such as food and diapers. Investing in Community Health Workers (CHWs) can help address the social determinants of poor health that disproportionately affect low-income, minority populations.

These workers and organizations can help improve material conditions, facilitate access to healthcare systems, and provide psychosocial support. The level of CHWs engagement with COVID-19 activities, as well as the types of activities (e.g. general community education or direct engagement with persons diagnosed with COVID-19), will depend on many factors— including available resources and skills.

In support of NC DHHS and the Office of Rural Health Community Health Worker Initiative, the

NC AHEC Program is organizing the Community Health Workers Peer Learning Collaborative.

Led by MOUNTAIN AHEC, the goal of this ECHO is to bring Community Health Workers across North Carolina together to make connections and learn from each other.

The NC AHEC Program is also offering a series of self-paced online courses to help connect the health workforce to COVID-19 related community-based resources for patients and their families. The series of modules prepares participants to discuss the public health infrastructure in North Carolina; define implicit bias, cultural humility, cultural consciousness, microaggression, and the cycle of socialization; and to identify best practices for engaging with different populations.

Implementing our strategic plan while also looking for innovations and funding to ensure that the NC AHEC Program is nimble and adaptive to the needs of a constantly changing health workforce landscape is key to executing these projects. | 19 17

COVID-19 INITIATIVES Looking Back and Looking Forward

In an unprecedented 12-month period since our last year-in-review, our work to address the most challenging public health crisis since our founding changed shape along the way to meet new and emerging needs in North Carolina communities.

Activities like contact tracing and workforce surge planning became part of our daily vocabularies. We adapted our internal workgroups and external partnerships to support the state’s efforts. Our ability to operate as a system had never been so important.

These are some of our most crucial initiatives developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Contact tracing. As a proven method of controlling the spread of communicable diseases, contract tracing is the method of identifying people that have recently been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

in less than three weeks. Our partnership with CCNC resulted in the hiring and training of 250 supplemental contact tracers in less than six weeks. We currently have a total of 8 courses available with course attendance to-date over 11,600.

In collaboration with Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS), NC AHEC prepared a training curriculum to be utilized for individuals with Local Health Departments (LHD), University and College programs, vendors providing contact tracing and case investigation for the state and volunteers and other individuals who were interested in knowing more about contact tracing and case investigation.

COVID-19 webinars. To date, the NC AHEC program has delivered more than 140 webinars for providers to receive timely information about COVID from and to ask questions of state and other experts. These events garnered the attention of over 58,000 participants from across the state, and were the result of partnerships with NC DHHS, CCNC, and a number of professional medical societies.

Due to the lack of existing contact tracing modules, NC AHEC developed the curriculum

At the peak of activity, NC AHEC was supporting at least one webinar every weekday. Program Director Hugh Tilson served as the host and moderator for most of these events, with Nevin Fouts providing IT support.

A vaccination volunteer training is currently in development and will be made available to the public for free in a series of online modules.

Workforce surge planning. Ensuring an adequate and appropriately trained workforce in hospitals, health systems, and practices is an essential component of preparation for and management of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To support that work, the NC AHEC Program prepared a new resource. The COVID-19 Preparedness Checklists, Planning Considerations for Acute Care and Long-term Care Populations and Planning Considerations for Home-Based Care Populations are highlevel overviews of guidelines for organizations to consider as they prepare clinical spaces, workforce skills, and patient care supplies for an increase in patient volume in the wake of COVID-19.

with a series of other guidelines, or playbooks, that match strategies for maximizing skill utilization with appropriate resources for training, cross-training, and retraining workers.

Vaccination support. NC AHEC supported the creation of a template for academcic institutions to manage student and faculty volunteers through UNC Health as well as community outreach in Wake, Durham, and Orange counties. Over 800 faculty, staff, and students have volunteered to serve in this capacity and are using resources from NC AHEC for training. This template has been shared through the Interprofessional Education Leaders Collaborative (IPEL-C)

so that other schools can use similar processes that were piloted and have been successful.

In addition, NC AHEC organized volunteers for students and faculty in health professions program and in partnership with NCNA, which resulted in over 2,600 volunteers in nursing. Soon, NC AHEC will support the Board of Medicine, Board of Dental examiners, and Board of Physical Therapy in recruiting volunteers from their own membership. This model was also disseminated through the IPELC.

To specifically support workforce planning to meet the surge demands for distinct patient care populations, the overview is accompanied

As COVID-19 vaccinations continue to be administered across North Carolina, our program remains committed to ensuring that our provider communities have the most updated information on the state’s plans and protocols for distribution.

Access our resources by visiting ncahec.com.

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NC AHEC PROGRAM Hugh Tilson, JD, MPH, Director 145 N. Medical Drive, CB 7165 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7165 919-966-2461 | ncahec.net

AREA L AHEC Debby Futrell, PharmD, President & CEO PO Drawer 7368 Rocky Mount, NC 27804-0368 252-972-6958 | arealahec.org

EASTERN AHEC Lorrie Basnight, MD, Executive Director 2600 West Arlington Blvd.

Greenville, NC 27835-7224 252-744-5221 | easternahec.net

SOUTH EAST AHEC Joseph Pino, MD, Executive Director 2511 Delaney Ave. Wilmington, NC 28403-6003 910-343-0161 | seahec.net

GREENSBORO AHEC Dereck DeLeon, MD, Chief Academic Officer & Executive Director Moses Cone Health System 1200 N. Elm St. Greensboro, NC 27401-1020 336-832-8025 | gahec.org

SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC Sushma Kapoor, MD, President & CEO 1601 Owen Drive Fayetteville, NC 28304-3425 910-323-1152 | southernregionalahec.org

MOUNTAIN AHEC Jeffery Heck, MD, President & CEO 121 Hendersonville Rd. Asheville, NC 28803-2868 828-257-4400 | mahec.net

CHARLOTTE AHEC Michael Ruhlen, MD, Director

NORTHWEST AHEC Michael Lischke, EdD, MPH, Director

Atrium Health PO Box 32861 Charlotte, NC 28232-2861 704-512-6523 | charlotteahec.org

Wake Forest University Health Sciences Medical Center Blvd.

Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1060 336-713-7700 | northwestahec.wakehealth.edu

WAKE AHEC John Perry III, MD, Executive Director 3024 New Bern Ave., Suite 301 Raleigh, NC 27610-1255 919-350-8547 | wakeahec.org

DUKE AHEC PROGRAM OFFICE Marvin Swartz, MD, Director Duke University Medical Center, Box 3173 Durham, NC 27710 919-684-8676 | dukeahec.mc.duke.edu

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145 N. Medical Drive, CB 7165 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7165 919-966-2461 | ncahec.net

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