Community Engagement to Advance Health Equity and Foster Student Education: The DUSON Community Health Improvement Partnership Program (D-CHIPP)

Proposal: In 2017, the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) Community Health Improvement Partnership Program (D-CHIPP) was established with the goal of advancing community health. Prior to D-CHIPP, DUSON’s engagement with the community included partnerships with local non-profit organizations to facilitate clinical placement for nursing students at community sites. As a coordinated program, D-CHIPP now serves as the bridge between DUSON and the community to foster partnerships in education, research, clinical, and health education programs to improve community health.

D-CHIPP offers several unique programs to the DUSON and local community. In 2020, D-CHIPP, along with input from community partners, created a new elective for students in the accelerated bachelor of science in nursing (ABSN) program. The Quality Improvement (QI) Scholars program pairs students with a community partner and together they work on a project over the course of a semester. The projects are designed to give students experience working on QI, with health care providers, and performing chart review. To date, twenty-eight (28) students have completed the course.

Another distinctive service D-CHIPP offers is Design Thinking facilitation. Design Thinking is a technique used to solve problems with the end user in mind. Through a series of exercises participants use novel methods to develop and test solutions. In the community health and academic environment, this translates to solving problems related to program development and implementation, capacity building, research questions, health equity and social justice challenges.

The structure of D-CHIPP along with DUSON’s capacity to supervise nurses at all levels, created a unique opportunity for clinical care provision with our partner agencies. For example, we have a longstanding relationship with TROSA, a residential facility for persons with substance use disorder. TROSA contracts with DUSON for a nurse practitioner to provide care to their residents. The NP position is housed within D-CHIPP where we have the capacity to supervise NPs. Another partner, PADC, contracts with DUSON for an RN case manager.

In 2022, D-CHIPP received funding through HRSA (UK1HP46054-01-00) and launched the Mobile Prevention and Care Team (M-PACT) clinic. We are providing clinical services with one of our longstanding partners, Families Moving Forward, and have plans on expanding to more partners including rural health departments. We are working to offer telemedicine in rural areas including public schools. The community partnerships fostered through D-CHIPP and trusted relationships we’ve developed over time have resulted in this level of community health improvement opportunities.