Specialty: Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine

Keywords: handbook, street medicine, the Mobile Clinic Project

Background:

The Mobile Clinic Project (MCP) is a student-run clinic that serves unhoused patients facing unique risk factors, health needs, and barriers to care. Historically, patient care at MCP was provided by MS2 students under physician supervision. However, with the new curriculum, MS1 students have now taken on the role of MS2 students in providing patient care. The MCP leadership has thus faced a new challenge of training incoming MS1 students to deliver quality care to unhoused patients in street settings.

Objectives:

Our objective was to develop a focused and user-friendly handbook in street medicine that MS1 students could easily access on a shift via their phones.

Design:

We created an online handbook in the form of a website, organized into six sections: Chief Concerns, Illness Scripts, Physical Exam, Medications, Counseling, and Emergencies. Each section allows the user to quickly access relevant information to generate a differential, formulate a plan, look up exam maneuvers or prescription information, provide patient education, or identify an emergency, respectively. Although, the handbook was designed for MS1 students, its focus on the street setting and unique medical needs of unhoused patients may prove beneficial to users without such background regardless of training level.

Effectiveness:

We aim to assess the effectiveness of the handbook when the new MS1 cohort joins the MCP in Fall 2025. We anticipate that access to the handbook will empower incoming MS1 students to deliver more confident and competent patient care within the constraints of street medicine.

Lessons Learned: 

The development of a street medicine handbook for MS1 students requires an intimate understanding of both the unique challenges of caring for unhoused patients and the specific needs of novice medical students who provide such care.

Summary:

Our open-access handbook may benefit not only future cohorts of MCP students but also other student-run street clinics who wish to utilize it.