Kanthawar, P | Murphy, A | UHP: Mission Accomplished

Urban Health Project: Mission Accomplished

A Service-Based Summer Internship on Medical Students  

Pooja Kanthawar1, Urban Health Project, Alec Murphy2, Urban Health Project, 

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine MS21,2

Purpose: Since 1986, Urban Health Project (UHP) has placed rising 2nd-year University of Cincinnati medical students in 8-week summer internships at local agencies that work with vulnerable populations, with the mission to “challenge medical students through their service to vulnerable populations in Greater Cincinnati to produce more socially responsible physicians who have a greater understanding of factors that impact health.” The purpose of this study was to assess UHP’s success in meeting this goal as well as how it compares to other summer opportunities.

Methods: A cohort study using pre and post-summer email surveys with Likert-type scale and open-ended questions were collected from 2017-2022 UHP interns (n=124) and classmates who did not participate in UHP (control group) before and after the summer. The surveys assessed changes in self-reported confidence in skills and career goals related to working with vulnerable populations. In addition, a weekly survey to UHP interns to determine the extent (hours worked and community members reached) of their engagement and obtain qualitative reflections on their experiences. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests for significance. 

Results: 110 UHP interns completed the Pre-Summer Survey (89% response rate) and 90 UHP Interns surveys (73%). The response rate for Non-UHP was not able to be calculated as the total number of students for each class for that year was unobtainable. Compared to control, after the summer, UHP interns showed increased confidence (0.32, p<0.01) in using their understanding of factors that impact health to serve underserved and/or vulnerable populations after completing the summer. Additionally, UHP interns showed increased confidence (0.22, p<0.01) in identifying someone who is underserved and/or vulnerable after completing the summer, while non-UHP students did not. Finally, more UHP interns reported planning to work with underserved and/or vulnerable populations once they are attending physicians compared to non-UHP students (90% v. 55%, p<0.001), after completing the summer. 

Conclusions: UHP appears successful in meeting the goals of its mission, as indicated by the reported impact on the post-summer surveys and their desire to be involved with vulnerable populations in their future careers. There was an increase in UHP intern confidence in working with vulnerable populations from pre- and summer surveys. Furthermore, UHP interns are interested in a diverse selection of specialties. UHP plans to continue collecting data on future interns and their medical student cohorts as well as alumni to further assess the impact. 

Contact information: Pooja Kanthawar, kanthapa@mail.uc.edu, 606-231-8909; Alec Murphy, murph2ac@mail.uc.edu, 

Keywords: Service Learning, Urban Health Project, vulnerable populations, community development, public health