internship powerpoint

1. M A D I S O N M I R A N D I
F A L L 2 0 1 5
Anderson Free Clinic
Internship

2. Introduction
This semester I completed my health science
internship at the Anderson Free Clinic in Anderson,
South Carolina under the supervision of Barbara
Baptista and Sherry Lawson. I earned over 180 hours
performing patient triage, working with the Care
Navigation program, and helping out with office work
wherever needed. I trained with the nursing
coordinator, Elizabeth Young, to learn how to do triage
well and how to best interact with the patients. It was
an enriching experience and I look forward to giving
my time there in the future.

3. The Anderson Free Clinic
The Anderson Free Clinic located at: 414 North Fant
St. Anderson, SC 29621

4. What is the Anderson Free Clinic?
 The Anderson Free Clinic’s primary goal is to provide
health care to those in the community with no health
insurance and low income.
 The Free Clinic offers medical, dental, and
pharmaceutical services to its patients.
 The clinic recruits volunteer providers from the area to
see patients four days a week.
 AFC is the only healthcare clinic in Anderson providing
free medical and dental care to low income patients
and they are funded purely through donations and
grants.

5. Mission Statement and Goals
 The mission statement of AFC: “To serve the health
needs of the underserved citizens of Anderson County
through community engagement and partnerships
with those who care.”
 Their vision is that everyone in Anderson County
would be able to have access to quality health care,
regardless of their ability to pay.

6. History of AFC
 AFC was founded in 1984 as a non-profit agency,
operating in a house in downtown Anderson.
 Maureen Santini became the AFC’s first paid staff
member in January of 1985.
 In 1985, the clinic’s first pharmacy was opened
between a walk-in closet and the kitchen pantry in
the house.
 In 1998, on Valentine’s Day, AFC opens the Fant
Street location with 6 medical exam rooms, 3 dental
exam rooms, and one lab.

7. My Role at the Clinic
 My role at the clinic mainly consisted of patient triage
and working with the Care Navigation program.
 At times, I filled in wherever was needed, especially the
front office. This gave me exposure to most aspects of
how the clinic is run.
 My certification as a nursing assistant trained me to be
able to perform triage, under the supervision of
Elizabeth Young.

8. Triage
 Triage begins by calling the patient back to a room and
measuring their height and weight.
 Next, the patient is asked the reason for their visit and if
they smoke or drink alcohol regularly.
 I then check in all medications the patient has brought with
them, going over each one to make sure the patient knows
if they have been taking it as prescribed.
 Vitals signs are then taken, including blood pressure, pulse,
respirations, temperature, and blood sugar if necessary.
 Last, the patient if either put in an exam room or sent out
to the waiting room until the provider is ready for them.

9. Triage
Taking a patient’s vital signs during triage.

10. The Care Navigation Program
 The Care Navigation program targets non-compliant
patients. These patients are likely to visit the ER, miss
appointments, and not take their medications properly.
 I worked with Nina Bridges, the care coordinator, to
implement this program. Aspects of the program include:
calling patients who have recently been in the ER or missed
an appointment, calling patients who have not been seen in
awhile, using Care Message to send out individualized text
messages to patients, and organizing group and individual
therapy sessions.
 To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, I conducted
surveys with Care Navigation patients over the phone.

11. Care Navigation
Updating the Care Message
spreadsheet
The phone survey

12. Care Navigation
To the left: a to-do list
left for me by Nina
Bridges.
To the right: a sample of
the sign up sheet for text
reminders and updates

13. Projects
 I completed two major projects during my internship
this semester: an ER report analysis and a brochure
for group therapy sessions.
 Both of these projects were part of the Care
Navigation program. The ER report analysis
measured the effect the program had on frequent ER
users over two years. The brochure aimed to bring
the non-compliant patients into group therapy
sessions.

14. ER Report Analysis
 The ER report analysis took all the data from all ER visits
by AFC patients in 2014 and 2015 and compared them.
 I broke the visits up into categories: how many patients
were admitted, how many visits were dental-related, how
many visits were mental-related, how many of the visits
were by Care Navigation patients, and acuity levels.
 I then went through each visit and decided which visits
were unnecessary based on the reason for the visit and
whether the clinic was open at that time.
 From the data I could conclude the top admission
reasons and the top unnecessary visits.
 I then graphed the data from the two years to make the
comparisons visual.

15. ER Report Analysis
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50
100
150
200
250
Admitted Dental Mental C-Care
2014
2015
Table 1: ER Report Analysis
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10
20
30
40
50
60
70
CCU/ICU
In-Patient
Psychiatric
Observation
2014
2015
Table 2: Admission Types (%)

16. Group Therapy Brochure

17. Conclusion
My time at the Anderson Free Clinic has taught me very
valuable lessons and awarded me knowledge that will
help me through the rest of my health care career. I have
learned not only much medical knowledge, but also how
to effectively communicate with patients and behave in a
professional manner. It has been a privilege to work
alongside this staff and learn from each and every one of
them.