Addressing Patients’ Mental Health Needs at a Student-Run Free Clinic

Community Mental Health Journal volume 57, pages196–202(2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Student-run free clinics are uniquely positioned to understand the barriers to accessing mental health resources. We abstracted patient demographics and clinical characteristics from 355 patient charts and examined referral patterns for a subset of patients. Seventy-three (21%) of patients were found to have a psychiatric diagnosis and were more likely to have more medical comorbidities (10 versus 6, p < 0.001), total medications (8 versus 6, p < 0.001, and to be English-speaking (odds ratio: 1.97, p < 0.05). Of patients who received a referral, 37 (60%) were referred to specialty treatment, the majority to a single outside agency provider. 15 (25%) of patients were interviewed. Barriers to successful referral included transportation and medical symptoms. A facilitator of successful referral was concern for individual’s health. Language, social stigma, and cost were not cited as barriers. This study describes mental health needs at a SRFC and suggests opportunities for improvement.

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Acknowledgements

Faculty time dedicated to this initiative was supported by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and The Shade Tree Clinic. We would like to acknowledge Dr. Bonnie Miller and Dr. Jeffery Balser for their support of the Shade Tree Clinic and to Thao Le and Daniel Sack for their critical review of this manuscript. The clinical operations of Shade Tree Clinic were supported by the Baptist Healing Trust. Thank you to the student and physician volunteers for dedicating their time and effort to the clinic. Thank you to the patients of Shade Tree Clinic without whom this work would not be possible.

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Affiliations

  1. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Olivia Knoll

  2. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA

    Rohini Chakravarthy, Joshua D. Cockroft & Nicolas Baddour

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Shannon Jordan

  4. Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Eleanor Weaver, Michael J. Fowler & Robert F. Miller

Authors
  1. Olivia Knoll
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  2. Rohini Chakravarthy
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  3. Joshua D. Cockroft
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  4. Nicolas Baddour
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  5. Shannon Jordan
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  6. Eleanor Weaver
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  7. Michael J. Fowler
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  8. Robert F. Miller
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Correspondence to Rohini Chakravarthy.

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Knoll, O., Chakravarthy, R., Cockroft, J.D. et al. Addressing Patients’ Mental Health Needs at a Student-Run Free Clinic. Community Ment Health J 57, 196–202 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00634-3

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Keywords

  • Student-run free clinic
  • Mental health
  • Referral
  • Primary care
  • Vulnerable populations
  • Medical education