Clinical Outreach
Faculty physicians conduct clinical outreach activities throughout
Central, Southern, and Eastern Kentucky, affording thousands of citizens in Kentucky's smaller
and more remote communities greater access to specialist care.
Center for Rural Health
Established in 1990, the Center for Rural Health in Hazard, Kentucky,
aims to improve the health of rural Kentuckians and strengthen rural communities. The center
provides educational programs in nursing, clinical laboratory sciences, and physical therapy,
as well as a family practice medical residency. CRH's research and evaluation agenda includes rural
health policy analysis, workforce needs assessment, and evaluation of community empowerment. In
2000 the National Rural Health Association named the University of Kentucky Center for Rural
Health the Outstanding Rural Health Program in the United States.
Rural Training Tracks
The Department of Family Practice extends its patient care and teaching
effort to an off-site outpatient clinic and residency program in Hazard, Kentucky. The clinic is
operated through the Center for Rural Health. Other rural training programs for residents have
been established in Corbin, Kentucky, and Morehead, Kentucky.
Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program
The College of Medicine operates the Area Health
Education Center programs in collaboration with the other four colleges of the Medical Center.
Medical students and residents participate in the AHEC program, living and working in an
underserved region of Kentucky as part of a rotation experience, often with a primary care focus.
AHEC rotations provide students the opportunity to learn under the direction of community-based
faculty members. During the 2000-2001 academic year, College of Medicine students and residents
participated in over 300 rotations in AHEC sites.
Kentucky Telecare (KTC)
The College of Medicine's telemedicine program extends finite
health care resources to medically underserved Kentuckians through direct care and educational
programs. During the 2000-2001 academic year, KTC delivered 900 clinical encounters, connecting
UK clinicians with patients in outlying areas. During the same period, educational contact hours
provided to regional health care practitioners exceeded 20,000. While KTC began as a telemedicine
effort for Eastern Kentucky, it has served as a catalyst for the formation of the statewide
Kentucky Telehealth Network, linking the state's two academic medical centers to one another
and to regional hospitals and clinics throughout the state. Kentucky Telecare serves as a model
for other telemedicine programs around the country.
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