Arbor Free Clinic

Undergraduate Volunteer Manual

2001-2002

Arbor Undergraduate Coordinators:

Madeleine Saran

Undergrad Coordinator


497-4895, 799-5964 (cell) / Candace Pau

Undergrad Coordinator


497-0925, 503/701-3163 (cell)
Levon Utidjian

Screen team Coordinator


497-6695 / Farzad Alemi

Interpreter Coordinator


Medical Student Clinic Managers:

Anna Battat

Public Relations Manager

/
Isabel Lee

Community and Patient Services Manager

/
Krista Fielding

Operations Manager

/
Phil Hsu

Undergrad Liaison

/

Other Important Numbers:

Clinic tel.: (650) 493-5000, ext. 22844 (Sundays only), ext. 22791

To dial out of the clinic: Dial 9 + the # you are calling + 432000

Information and Announcements

Website:

Announcements:Announcements will be distributed via the arbor-current

mailing list. You can send messages to this list by sending

e-mail to: . If you have not

received an e-mail confirming your subscription to this list,

please notify the coordinators.

Phone List

The undergrad volunteer phone/e-mail list is currently in the process of being set up. Once it has been completed, only current volunteers will be able to access the information (to protect your privacy). The page will be available at:

Signing Up to Volunteer at Arbor

  • Sign-ups occur via the Arbor website. Undergrads may sign up for the “Undergraduate” or “Spanish Interpreter slots.”
  • To allow everyone an equal opportunity to volunteer, please only sign up for 2 slots initially (one between 10/28 - 12/9 and one between 12/16 - 1/27). If spaces are still not filled in one week (by 10/28), then you can sign up for more slots. Spaces available because of cancellations are open to everyone.
  • Sign-ups will start on 10/21/01.
  • Please do not sign up for the “Leader” slot if you have not been trained.
  • Occasionally, the website experiences technical difficulties. If you are unable to sign up, please e-mail one of the coordinators.

If you can’t make it on the day you signed up…

  • E-mail the arbor-current list for a replacement. If someone responds, you may delete yourself from the schedule by clicking on your name and entering your replacement’s name. Your sub must also sign him/herself up on the web.
  • If no one responds to your e-mail, you need to call undergrads from the phone list on the web to find a replacement. This is especially important if you signed up as a Spanish interpreter because many patients only speak Spanish.

**It is very important that you do your best to honor your commitment to volunteer on the day you signed up. Canceling too late takes away a volunteer spot that another undergrad could have taken. We understand that things come up, but please check your calendars carefully before signing up on the web.



All You Ever Needed to Know About

Your Day at the Clinic

Set – up (10 a.m. – 11 a.m.)

  1. Calling security if you get there before the med students: face away from the clinic door and walk forward and left around the building, go past the loading dock to the main entrance. Just past the main entrance there will be a phone on the wall that looks like a campus phone. Pick up the phone and it will ring. Tell VA security that you are with Arbor Clinic and ask them to unlock the clinic door for you and set it so that it stays unlocked. You can also ask them to unlock the back supplies room once they get there.
  1. Rearrange the chairs in the waiting room
  1. Bring out the undergrad cart, literacy project cart, and coffee supplies from the back room.
  1. Get a cart and tables from the second floor.
  1. Put out all six signs. There is a map on the wall in the room with the signs.
  1. Place a new patient registration form in the clipboard and set out sign up for social worker and other fliers.
  1. Sign up for shadowing spots, using the form in the undergrad binder.
  1. Make sure there are 20 blank charts for both adults and children, and start checking patients in (procedure outlined in section about chart/computer)
  1. At around 11 o’clock (after everyone is there at the clinic), the clinic coordinator for the day will call everyone back and do quick introductions.

While the clinic is open (11 a.m. – clinic close)

  1. Leader should stay at the desk from 11am – 1pm. They should be coordinating the activities of all the other volunteers and entering patient data into the computer (as explained in the section about the chart/computer). They should make sure that:
  1. All charts get entered on the white board in the order that the patients signed in
  2. All undergrads that want to shadow get to (1 hour each)
  3. Answer all questions that patients may have (see information on policies/referrals)
  4. Manage waiting room crowding. After the first 10 patients come you can tell the next patients to come back after 12:30 after you have done their intake (use your judgement on this one depending on how many Spanish or fast track patients there are)
  5. Enforce 20 patient/5 physical cap (more information in policies/referrals)
  6. Communicate with medical student coordinator
The undergrads also play an important role in triage. You will be screening for emergency conditions: Patients with chest pain, shortness of breath, bleeding, and other painful conditions may require a call to 911, be seen immediately and/or need to be seen in the air-negative room. Consult a medical student coordinator or a clinic manager if you are unsure whether a patient meets these criteria.
Screen for patients with potential tuberculosis by asking if they have a cough
associated with one of the following symptoms: fever, night sweats, unexplained weight
loss, or hemoptysis. If TB is suspected, the patient is asked to wait in the air-negative
room (D103).
1.
2.The front desk staff must also screen for chicken pox (varicella). Feel free to ask a
3.physician for help in identifying such patients.
  1. Literacy Project: Patient load permitting, volunteers are encouraged to read to children in the waiting room, or to have parents read to their kids. Each child may be given one book from the Literacy Project cart. Write the child’s name in the front cover of the book on the Arbor bookplate. Make sure to record the child’s name and title of the book they received on the Literacy Project log inside the undergrad binder.
  1. Benefits Analyst: Luis Quesada is a benefits analyst from the East Palo Alto Benefits Office. He will be at the clinic every Sunday starting at 11:00 a.m. Be sure to connect with him to see what his needs are. Be proactive about asking patients who state they have no insurance in the undergrad interview whether they would be interested in receiving information about health insurance. Send interested patients to Luis in the kitchen (straight down our hall, last door on the right).
  1. Try to take in Spanish speaking patients with the same speed as English speaking patients. If you know any Spanish, take one of the translated forms and get their info. This will free up the interpreters to help in the back with the preclinicals and doctors where they are more needed.
  1. Fast track forms: insert these in the patient chart if the patient needs eyeglasses, a TB placement, or a TB read. The forms are in the undergrad cart in the folder labeled “Fast Track”. Preclinicals will fill them out, do everything else as normal. (This is subject to change with the new database system.)

Clinic Close (usually 2 or 3 p.m. -- you may have to stay later on occasion)

  1. Leader: Fill out the form in the undergrad binder and e-mail (either at clinic or after you get home) the important comments/need for supplies to the undergrad coordinators.
  1. Take down signs/tables/rearrange chairs.
  1. Put away cart, literacy project stuff, tables and everything else.
  1. Vacuum waiting room and make sure everything is spotless.
  1. Finish entering patient charts into the computer.
  1. Let the coordinator know that you are done and discuss what went well and what didn’t, both on the undergrad end and on the med student end.

All You Ever Needed to Know About

Charts, Databases, and Whiteboards

  1. Interview patient, fill in ALL of the blanks on the undergraduate intake form, and all of the demographic info on the permanent record.
  1. Take patient height and weight. Record data on chart.
  1. Give chart to database person at front desk.
  1. Database person enters preliminary information into the computer
  1. Interviewer or designated chart-runner takes chart to back, writes up the patient information on the whiteboard (Make sure the order of the patients is maintained on the whiteboard (i.e., make sure that the seventh patient who registered is the seventh person on the board)), and places the chart in the “To be seen by preclinical” box.
  1. After the patient has been seen and the physician has signed off on the chart, a coordinator will bring the chart back to the front desk.
  1. Database person should check to ensure that all boxes in the chart have been completely filled out. If not, return the chart to the preclinical interviewer for completion. Also, VERY IMPORTANT: make sure the physician has signed off on the chart.
  1. Database person will finish entering chart. Make sure ALL charts are entered before you leave.

Arbor Free Clinic Policies

Updated (10/21/2001)

Due to the limits of our volunteer staff, the Arbor Free Clinic has developed the following policies. These may change as our patient load, volunteer load, and community health care network changes.

  1. Arbor Free Clinic is open on Sundays from 11:00am to 2:00pm.
  1. All services at Arbor Free Clinic are FREE; however, our referral sites are NOT free and patients are responsible for charges.
  1. Due to limited resources and staff, Arbor Free Clinic can only admit up to 20 patients each Sunday.
  1. Of the 20 patients, we will admit up to 5 patients needing physical exams. In cases where patients with more urgent medical care needs are present, patients requiring physicals may not be seen.
  1. Patients needing urgent care have priority and will be seen first, before patients with less threatening medical needs. Pediatric and dermatology patients may be seen out of order due to physician availability.
  1. Patients under 18 years of age requiring a physical exam MUST HAVE A PARENT OR GUARDIAN present to be seen by a physician. No exceptions are made.
  1. Patients under 18 years of age may be seen at the Clinic without a parent or guardian for family planning services, pregnancy testing, contraceptives, STD testing, and alcohol and substance abuse counseling.
  1. If a patient has received a medication at Arbor Clinic and was not referred to Willow Clinic, or is waiting for an appointment, then that patient must be seen and re-assessed by the attending physician for a possible medication refill.
  1. Arbor Free Clinic will have an on-site dermatologist on the first Sunday of every month.
  1. Arbor Free Clinic CANNOT provide eye exams for veterans. We are able to provide TWO eye glass vouchers PER MONTH to veterans who have written prescriptions. If we are over quota, we cannot provide veterans with eye glass vouchers.
  1. Arbor Free Clinic has limited eye care resources for community members who have NO OTHER eye care options.
  1. Arbor Free Clinic does not provide HIV testing or vaccinations other than TB testing and tetanus vaccine.

Arbor Free Clinic Services

Arbor Free Clinic provides:

Free acute medical care for adults and children

TB screening and referrals for free chest X-rays

Physical exams

STD screening (except HIV testing) and pap smears

Lab testing

Free medications via in-house supplies and pharmacy vouchers

Referrals for low cost eye exams and free eye glasses

Referrals for low cost emergency dental care (emergency care only)

On-site county benefits analyst who screens patients for county and state benefit eligibility

Health education and counseling

An array of community social and medical referrals to meet patients’ diverse needs

Arbor Free Clinic does NOT provide:

HIV testing

Vaccinations (except for PPD placement and tetanus vaccine)

Long-term continuity care

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