Acute Care and System Strengthening (ACCESS) in Low Resource Settings is a 4-year longitudinal academic program at the VCU School of Medicine that aims to prepare medical students to become global citizens and leaders by understanding the complexities of healthcare delivery for acute conditions and system strengthening efforts in low-resource settings. The Program’s comprehensive, competency-based global health curriculum includes lectures, seminars, workshops, clinical specialty-based work, research, community engagement, and international collaborative partnerships.
The ACCESS curriculum is based on the framework proposed by the Consortium of Universities in Global Health (CUGH) Identifying Interprofessional Global Health Competencies for 21st Century Health Professionals (2015). The CUGH frameworks includes 11 domains and corresponding competencies for global health education and professional development.
The ACCESS Program offers students interested in acute care specialties, such as Emergency Medicine, Surgery, Anesthesiology, OBGYN, and Critical Care, a unique educational experience to acquire indispensable knowledge for the delivery of care in low-resource settings domestically and abroad.
The ACCESS Program helps students to:
- Acquire an appreciation of the fundamental skills required to deliver acute care amidst the challenges faced in resource-limited settings.
- Develop an understanding of the socio-geo-political factors that influence the development of sustainable healthcare systems capable of addressing the burden of acute illness and injury.
- Analyze system strengthening strategies and design projects relevant to the acute care needs in low-resource settings.
A bit about our history
VCU Health and the VCU School of Medicine have a long history of leading high-impact educational programs around the world. The School of Medicine offers a number of opportunities for students to learn about health care locally and globally. Students participate in a variety of programs and grow through mentorship from VCU faculty experts who lead established global health collaborations. All of these programs are well regarded by VCU students and serve to distinguish VCU SOM from other medical schools across the country for its global health engagement; however, current programs at VCU for medical students focus strongly on primary care and community health.
Based on the growing awareness of unmet acute care needs around the world, VCU School of Medicine students and faculty have sought an educational program on health care delivery for acute conditions that is related to emergency medical, surgical, anesthetic, obstetric, and critical care and that teaches students about health systems strengthening to address acute care needs in low resource settings with a public health perspective.
Acute Care and System Strengthening (ACCESS) in Low Resource Settings was founded in 2019 as a response to this growing interest.
Specialty Tracks
- Emergency Medicine
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Anesthesia
- Surgery
- Critical Care
Community Partners
Richmond Ambulance Authority
Students in the ACCESS program engage in community health education as instructors for Stop the Bleed and Hands Only CPR. These opportunities are made possible through active collaboration with the Richmond Ambulance Authority.
Stop the Bleed and Hands Only CPR can be taught across a wide variety of community settings, and we are passionate about helping community members assist first responders in acute emergencies. If you are interested in learning these skills, please contact us by email at accesscopresidents@gmail.com to organize a time for our student instructors to teach your small or large group.
Student Interest Groups at VCU SOM
International Trauma System Development Program
The International Trauma System Development Program (ITSDP) is the international component of VCU Health Trauma Center. ITSDP focuses on the enhancement and development of international trauma systems for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of trauma. In addition to the international activities, the medical student chapter focuses on the application of this approach to the local Richmond community.
Panamerican Trauma Society at VCU
Students who join ITSDP, automatically also become members of the Panamerican Trauma Society (PTS) at VCU. PTS holds monthly journal club meetings that are open to all ACCESS students. PTS also hosts Trauma Grand Rounds viewings, exposing students to learning from across North and South America.
Global Surgery Student Association (GSSA)
GSSA is the national student-run global surgery working group for the U.S., affiliated with InciSioN (the International Student Surgical Network). We believe that students are a valuable resource for the advancement of global surgery. We also believe that being unified in our efforts will help further our initiatives and can also facilitate more collaboration amongst overall global surgery efforts, both now and in the future. By exposing students to the field early on, we also hope to help them build their surgical careers with global surgery in mind.