The Georgia State University School of Nursing (GSU-SON) conducts an intensive immersion learning experience taking nurse practitioner and undergraduate nursing students from an urban to a rural environment to provide health care to migrant farm workers and their families. The project has been conducted since 1993 and over the last five years approximately N=2,859 episodes of care have been delivered to this population. Migrant farm workers are a very poor and under served population. According to the United States Health and Human Services, 1995, migrant farm workers' infant mortality rate is 25% greater than the national average; their life expectancy is 49 rather than 75 years; and the rate of parasitic infections may approach 50 times that of the total population. Watkins, et. al, in their article Family and Community Health state that migrant farm work has been classified as the most hazardous occupation in the United States. The objectives of this presentation are to :1) describe an innovative intensive immersion learning experience conducted by the GSU-SON in the rural South Georgia community; 2) illustrate how interdisciplinary, community based care can make a difference to the community, students and faculty alike; 3) discuss the planning, implementation, evaluation and findings of this project; 4) demonstrate an innovative service learning model of education; and 5) reinforce the need for team building skills through interdisciplinary and community-based education. In addition, the importance of building a community based coalition to make community based projects more effective and successful will be discussed.
Learning Objectives: 1) describe an innovative intensive immersion learning experience 2)illustrate how interdisciplinary, community based care can make a difference in the community, students and faculty alike 3) discuss the planning, implementation, evaluation and findings of the project 4) demonstrate an innovative service learning model of education, and 5) reinforce the need for team building skills through interdisciplinary and community-based education
Keywords: Vulnerable Populations, Migrant Farm Workers
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: GA State University School of Nursing
Colquitt County Migrant Education Program
Colquitt Co. Health Department
Colquitt Co. Farm Worker Health Program
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.