Teaching in a CHC

1. Teaching in a CHC Encouraging Health Careers Strengthening Recruiting Improving Retention

2. High School Students • Part Time / Summers • Three to Five Students • Returns for College Summers

3. Our High School Students • After High School: • 2 Pre Med • 2 Nursing School • 2 Dental Assistants / Hygiene ** • 2 Health Care Administration* • 1 Planning Lab or PA or Med School

4. PA Students • From Franklin Pierce University West Lebanon, New Hampshire • Brief Introductory Visits • Five Week Clerkships *

5. Dental Teaching • Students from Tufts Dental School • Five Weeks, Eight Rotations • Dental Residents from UVM * • Two  Five Days a Week *** ******************************* “I have done more in my five weeks at Plainfield than I have done in the past four years at dental school”

6. Medical Students • “Doctoring in Vermont”: Five half days, twice • Third and Fourth Year Rotations • UVM, UCSF, Harvard • Student Projects for THC Medical Staff Summer Research: ALS, Pharmacy Compliance, Anxiety

7. Team Teaching • All Teach / All Evaluate • Students Included in: • Daily Check Off • Monthly General Staff Meeting • Weekly One Hour Class and Half Hour Admin. • Monthly Pathology Conference • Articles / Literature Exchange

8. What Student Say We Offer • Contrasts with Tertiary Center: • Formal  Friendly • Competitive  Collaborative • Urban  Rural • Episodic  Continuing • Humorless  Fun • Uptight  Relaxed • Cold  Warm • Austere  Welcoming

9. What They Have Learned: • That you will learn every day, not just in school • Some topics not well covered at school are well taught at THC (Magnesium, Vitamin D, Depression, Partial Complex Seizures) • That competence can survive and thrive in isolation from the academic center • That open warmth and compassion are OK • That humor can be an important tool in care

10. What We Have Taught: *That knowing everything is not what it is about, rather that we can check, consult, or call *That we can tolerate some ambiguity and delay some decisions in a thoughtful sequence *To fix what is evident and then see what’s left * “Pursue if Persists” – every answer is not needed today ************************************************* *That our most important tools are our selves: our conviction, persuasiveness, caring, and knowledge

11. Building Relationships • After Clerkships Many Students Stay in Touch Having Become Part of our Family: emails, visits We are often asked to write letters of recommendation Doctoring in Vermont  Every Wednesday for a Year ? Future THC Medical Staff *

12. Retention • Teaching is Rewarding • Teaching Builds Competence • Opportunity to Teach Attracts Veteran Dentists • Student Feedback is Very Encouraging: • “THC really is Health Care the Way it Ought to Be” ********************************************** “This has been the best day of my life”