Recruiting 2023-24 Student Cohort

Applications due May 10th. In order to apply for the 2023-2024 Interprofessional Student Hotspotting program, please complete: Student Hotspotting 2023-24 Application

Student hotspotting, an initiative of the National Center for Complex Care and Social Needs (the National Center), is a team-based, patient-centered approach to serving patients with complex medical and social needs. Students in the health profession programs as well as law and journalism will form interprofessional teams of four to six students. The interprofessional student teams, led by faculty, will participate in an online curriculum and monthly case conferencing, developed by the National Center and Camden Coalition. The interprofessional student teams will collaborate with Partnership Health Center, who will identify high-utilizing patients. In teams, the students will provide non-clinical interventions designed to address the social determinants that impact patients’ physical health and lead to super-utilization of healthcare services. 

The student hotspotting intervention
The National Center defines student hotspotting as “an educational exercise for students interested in learning about the experiences of high-utilizing patients and the systemic barriers that cause repeated hospital admissions” (FAQ for Faculty, n.d.). According to the National Center, student hotspotting learning outcomes include:

• Identify barriers to care
• Understand data’s role in healthcare intervention
• Learn the importance of coordinated care and patient-centered approach
• Practice interdisciplinary collaboration
• Explore patient experiences and stories

Patient outcomes include:

• Improve patient quality of life
• Improve medical and behavioral support
• Increase social support
• Increase utilization of primary care (Student Hotspotting-Program overview, 2019).

Program Impact
This program is designed to serve patients with complex health and social needs who experience poor health outcomes despite high utilization of healthcare services. These patients are expensive to treat, and oftentimes traditional healthcare does not relieve the social needs that exasperate a patient’s physical health.

Time commitment for students

• Participate in the program from September - March
• Attend bi-weekly student meetings
• Approximate time commitment= 3-5 hours/week

FAQs for Students

Hotspotting curriculum for students