Training for today and tomorrow
Each year Emory Healthcare invests millions in teaching and research missions, including $79.9 million in 2011-2012.
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Charity care in Emory Healthcare |
As the health professions work to improve quality and efficiency of health care for both individuals and populations as a whole, training in these professions is evolving to accommodate new and changing needs.
For example, Emory’s School of Medicine recently inaugurated a master’s degree program in genetic counseling, the first in Georgia, to address a national shortage of board-certified genetic counselors to help clinicians and patients interpret genetic information related to risk. Meanwhile, as nurses continue to assume larger roles not just in patient care but in health care leadership, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing is responding to increasing needs for nursing data by incorporating research in its entire curriculum, not just for master’s and doctoral students, but for undergraduates as well. When nursing students complete assignments in underserved Caribbean countries over winter break or in south Georgia, where they attend to health needs of migrant farmworkers during the summer, they benefit from the experience of service learning but also are expected to gather, analyze, and report data that can be of use in future service to these populations. And the Rollins School of Public Health is helping local nonprofits through its Practical Experience Program, in which students work with about 50 local employers, contributing much-needed skills, ideas, and manpower to help in daily operations.
Training in the health professions is a costly endeavor for all involved. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center invested 22.4% of its tuition income last year in financial aid for its students, an amount totaling $17.8 million.
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