Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. (BJHCHS) has been a leader in providing high quality, cost effective, health care. Initially established to provide health care to the underserved, BJHCHS has expanded its role, becoming one of the largest and most respected health care providers in the state of South Carolina.
In remaining responsive to the ever-changing health care needs of our community, BJHCHS has expanded our facilities, programs, and services while never losing sight of our mission To provide quality, accessible, and comprehensive health care services to the South Carolina Low Country Community.
I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish at BJHCHS. Our success is a result of our continuing commitment to the needs of our communities served, clinical excellence, and an operational structure that focuses on the patients.
La mision de Beaufort Jasper Hampton Comprehensive Health Services es de proveer servicios de calidad, accesibles, economicos y cuidados exhaustivos de salud a la Comunidad del Lowcountry en Carolina del Sur.
Beaufort Jasper Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. (BJCHS) was organized to deliver comprehensive health services to residents of the socially and economically deprived residents of Beaufort & Jasper Counties.
A. T. Still University, based inKirksville, Missouri, is a combination of four schools which educate health care professionals based on the principles ofosteopathic medicine, first devised by American physicianAndrew Taylor Still, M.D. Its main campus is inKirksville, Missouri. TheKirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine(KCOM) is the worlds first osteopathic medical school, founded in1892. ATSU also has schools on its campus inMesa, Arizona: theSchool of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona(SOMA),theArizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health(ASDOH, Arizonas first dental school), and theArizona School of Health Sciences(ASHS). ATSU also offers online health management training programs through itsSchool of Health Management(SHM). A. T. Still University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
The school operates in a portion of an existing 100,000-square-foot building on the 22-acre campus of A.T. Still University in Mesa. The campus is the anchor of the Arizona Health & Technology Park, a 132-acre education, healthcare, and technology triangle owned by ATSU and Vanguard Health Systems. The master plan for the new park includes hospitals, long-term care facilities, professional offices, and product development research facilities.
According to some experts, ATSUs new osteopathic medical school couldnt come at a better time or a better place. Studies estimate a national shortage of as many as 200,000 physicians by 2020. In addition, the way healthcare is delivered in this country is rapidly changing because of increased demands for services, the economics of providing affordable healthcare, and the need to ensure quality healthcare.
As a response, ATSU formed Blue Ribbon Committees of national healthcare experts, medical educators, and technology experts to develop a new, modern, technology-driven curriculum that will serve as a model to move the osteopathic medical profession to a leadership position in medical education.
SOMA will complement the osteopathic medical school model by adding innovative strategies to what already exists. The most striking change is ATSUs new partnership with the nations Community Health Centers (CHC), which provide a healthcare safety net for underserved communities. SOMA students will begin their clinical observations in CHCs at the start of their second year instead of waiting until the third year as in traditional models.
Parts of the basic sciences will be bundled with clinical sciences and learned together. This practice of learning skills in the same environment in which they will be applied is called contextual learning. This has been shown to be more effective than methods that impose arbitrary educational divisions. The new curriculum has been planned using Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME). The use of BEME requires that only the curricular elements that have been studied and proven effective are selected and implemented.
Not only will students be advantaged by the new curriculum, but CHC patients also will benefit from these changes. By putting osteopathic medical students in the CHCs, ATSU is working toward ensuring that underserved communities have the healthcare they need.
Along with the dramatic changes occurring at ATSU, the University is keeping its focus on osteopathic principles and a humanistic approach to healthcare and education. The new curriculum was designed to enhance whole person healthcare ensuring that physicians care for people in their entirety in body, mind, and spirit.
Students education in years two through four will be based at one of the 11 select Community Campuses across the country. The second year is spent in these Community Campuses in small group settings, learning additional clinical presentations, observing patient care, and gaining an understanding of the local health system and community health practices. Third- and fourth-year students will complete their clinical rotations at their Community Campuses, in Community Campus associated hospitals, as well as with affiliated healthcare providers and at select healthcare institutions.
Osteopathic principles and practices are integrated throughout the curriculum, and the osteopathic manipulative treatment program is designed for primary care applications. This provides distinctive training in the value of healing touch in patient care.