SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Expanding Education in Equity: An Interdisciplinary Course in Correctional Health Care

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The document describes <strong>Medicine 809: The Intersection of Incarceration and Health Care</strong>, a 1-credit interdisciplinary graduate course created in 2018 at UW-Madison for medical, nursing, pharmacy, and physician assistant students. The course was developed to address <strong>health equity</strong> by teaching students to view incarceration as a social determinant of health and to better understand the needs of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people.

The course uses a <strong>hybrid format</strong> that includes live panels, online modules, mentorship from correctional health professionals, and, when possible, a correctional facility tour. Panel participants include formerly incarcerated adults, correctional health providers, researchers, and community advocates. Topics include women’s health, mental health, infectious disease care, compassionate release, AODA care, and state-specific data. Students complete a <strong>quality improvement project</strong> focused on a real gap or challenge in correctional health care.

Student feedback has been highly positive. Across four course cycles, 35 students completed evaluations. All respondents said they wanted to learn more, and most said they would consider working in corrections. Ratings were very high for usefulness, relevance, integration into future practice, and overall learning experience.

The background emphasizes that the United States incarcerates more people than any other country and that incarceration disproportionately affects Native American and Black Americans. It also notes that incarcerated people experience poorer health than non-incarcerated people, yet correctional health is underrepresented in U.S. medical education.

The authors conclude that providing health care to incarcerated people is an important equity issue and argue that all health professional schools should develop similar courses. Future plans include expanding the course to other disciplines, adding an advocacy module, increasing it to 2 credits, and integrating it into the required public health curriculum.

Asset Subtitle

Farah A. Kaiksow

Meta Tag

Author List Farah A. Kaiksow, Karen Reece, Kristin Merss

Category Innovations

Concept Incarceration

Concept Social Determinant

Concept Health Equity

Concept Health Disparities

Concept Incarcerated Patients

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Presenting Author Farah A. Kaiksow

Track Education

Keywords

Medicine 809

incarceration

health care

health equity

correctional health

graduate course

hybrid format

formerly incarcerated

quality improvement project

medical education

Incarceration

Social Determinant

Health Equity

Health Disparities

Incarcerated Patients