Influencing Health Professions Education

By placing medical students with preceptors at sites throughout the state, AHEC Programs provide health care to needy populations. Here, Dr. Doyle Bosse precepts medical student Aaron Nordgren during his summer clinical practicum at Jackson Memorial in Marianna.

Children from an Everglades farm worker community learn about dental health from Angel Alvarez, a Community Health Service Corps intern at Miami-Dade AHEC.

AHEC works closely with communities across Florida to improve health care at the local level, but also strives within the state's academic health centers to influence health professions education toward a greater emphasis on the primary care needs of the medically underserved. AHEC participation encourages health professions education programs to enhance their curricula with community-based clinical experiences, interdisciplinary training, distance education and other programs vital to students' learning. It also enables them to do so by identifying local preceptors, coordinating students' community rotations and otherwise serving as a point of contact for the academic health center within the communities where students train. AHEC's influence on health professions education takes many forms and touches all primary care disciplines.

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