University of Iowa College of Public Health · Serving Iowans: student experiences with Iowa’s Office of Statewide Clinical Education Programs

This week’s episode features a discussion with Alex Morrell and Conner Welch, two Master of Health Administration (MHA) students who work with Iowa’s Office of Statewide Clinical Education Programs (OSCEP). They chat with Alexis about how the office plays a vital role for rural Iowa and ultimately how they are working to create a healthier state.

Alexis Clark:

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to From the Front Row brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. My name is Alexis Clark, and if this is your first time with us, welcome. We’re a student run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they are relevant to anyone, both in and out of the field of public health.

Alexis Clark:

Today, we’re excited to have Alex Morrell and Connor Welch. Alex and Connor are both MHA students at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Over the last year, Alex has worked as a Senior Project Coordinator at the Office of Statewide Clinical Education Programs, also known as OSCEP, and has begun assisting with the onboarding of Connor into the same role as a Senior Project Coordinator. Welcome to the show, Alex and Connor.

Alex Morrell:

Thank you for having us.

Conner Welch:

Thanks for having us. Looking forward to speaking with you both.

Alexis Clark:

So let’s start off with you, Alex. What’s been your journey to get into healthcare? Why did you decide to pursue an MHA? And why did you end up going with Iowa?

Alex Morrell:

Yeah, my journey has definitely been probably a pretty traditional journey. I grew up in a family of healthcare providers and so my father is a physician, my uncle is a physician as well as, and a few brothers that have decided to either go the provider route or more to the administration side. And so all growing up, I thought I was definitely going to be more on the provider side, whether that be a physician or physician assistant. So even into more kind of the allied health services, such as like physical therapy, occupational health, something to kind of that regard. But as I started to go through my early days of college, freshman, sophomore year, I started to realize that I wasn’t really drawn towards biology, chemistry and those other courses that are really essential to being able to go kind of that more medical field route on the practicing side.

Alex Morrell:

And I started to realize that as I took more and more of the business courses, that I seem to really relate more to those and to really enjoy those. And so I started to kind of think about what I wanted to do for an occupation. And so I thought for sure, I want to do something to do with business, wasn’t really quite sure where I would fit in with that. And so I really started just kind of talking with different individuals about kind of different opportunities, whether it be within business within healthcare. When I actually started talking to my brother, he was just getting into healthcare administration and really just felt like that was definitely kind of where my interests aligned was that I really enjoyed the business side as well as really enjoyed the aspect of being able to kind of put healthcare and business together. And so from there, I really decided to pursue my undergrad in healthcare administration and then just never really looked back. When it got into the healthcare administration program, I started working in health care on the front end, after graduation worked for a few more years in that kind of healthcare administration support roles, kind of working with different individuals from the financial service side.

Alexis Clark:

Yeah, that’s great. It’s always great to hear when someone can take what they believed they were going to end up doing and intertwine it with what they actually enjoy doing to come out with something such as healthcare administration. Connor, what about you, what’s been your journey to get into healthcare? And why did you decide to pursue an MHA degree?

Conner Welch:

With my journey to health care I think there’s always been some level of interest ever since I was young. Similar to Alex, my parents have both led careers and healthcare in various different roles, and they certainly had a large influence on my life and I’ve always really looked up to them. And then like many in healthcare, just that desire to really be of help and of service to others, it was certainly appealing to me. I can remember kind of around high school-ish, when you kind of start to think about a career, I was a, I’ve always been a big sports fan and the team-based sports specifically. And so I think there’s a lot of parallels with that and healthcare being in really a team-based environment where you can kind of come together and be a part of something that’s far bigger than any one individual. So I think that lends itself well to leading sort of a more mission driven career.

Conner Welch:

In terms of the MHA specifically, that’s something that I got interested in more a little bit later in college, and I think that’s a product of getting exposed more to public health as a whole, and really starting to appreciate all the ways that our health is influenced and all the factors at both an individual and population level. And so I think what’s cool about an MHA degree is that you have the opportunity to influence how care is delivered at the bedside and within the clinic, but then to kind of take it a step further and look through the lens of the community and have an influence on kind of community health as a whole.

Conner Welch:

And then why Iowa for me, I think I could talk about Iowa for a lot of reasons. I got my bachelor’s here in Iowa City and I love being a Hawkeye, but the program specifically, I think as a really family like cohesive atmosphere. And then I think in a two year program, I think the curriculum is designed in a way that I’m going to leave with a lot of knowledge about the healthcare industry, but also begin to cultivate some of those leadership traits and more soft skills that will serve me well in a career and then just personally. So that’s a little bit about my background.

Alexis Clark:

That’s great, thank you both. So diving into OSCEP, Alex, can you tell us a little bit about the background of OSCEP and what really the goals are of that specific division of the Carver College of Medicine?

Alex Morrell:

Yeah, definitely. So as you mentioned, OSCEP is a division of the Carver College of Medicine. They’ve been around since 1974, so just shy of 50 years. And so it’s definitely been within the college, the College of Medicine for a very long time. The hospital, or excuse me, the organization’s principle responsibility is for developing and coordinating collegiate outreach programs or medical education and community service. And so the best way to describe OSCEP is that it’s broken down into three different parts.

Alex Morrell:

The first part is that it’s the community-based medical education. So that’s like coordination of statewide medical education system, different visiting professor programs and so forth. Being able to make sure that we have a community based medical education within the state of Iowa.

Alex Morrell:

The second part of it is a community service. That’s really done with like Iowa physician recruitment and placement, practice management consultation, and community relations. And so that’s really where Connor and I are serving, as far as in OSCEP, is really working with the community to make sure that they have providers within the communities which need them to be able to make sure that different role, parts of Iowa, that they’re really making sure that making sure that they have the right providers in the right place at the right time. And really making sure that they have the education in which they need to be able to serve that part of Iowa. Some other sources we also offer from the community services side is really working with recent graduates to be able to see if they may have an interest in staying here in Iowa and then being able to help them identify jobs within the Iowa, within the state of Iowa, excuse me. As well as we also help current residents that are kind of navigating that next step within their career. And we work with them by reviewing a physician compensation offer letters and stuff, to make sure that they’re able to, that they have a competitive offer and that they understand what they are signing before they proceed within that first job after residency.

Alex Morrell:

A third part of OSCEP is the information systems and research. And so this is really kind of the health professions tracking systems, databases for community-based programs, and a workforce analysis. So through those three different programs, OSCEP’s really able to help all of Iowa when it comes to making sure that they have a great multifaceted plan in place to be able to make sure that all of Iowa benefits from the services in which OSCEP offers. And really, like I said, those three main things, it’s just the community based medical education, community service, and then information systems and research.

Alexis Clark:

That’s great. I think it’s really interesting when we have the opportunity to learn about things that are happening behind the scenes that most people probably have no idea this division even exists. So the fact that we are able to offer a division like this, I think speaks volumes to what the University of Iowa and the Carver College of Medicine is trying to do with its graduates of their medical school.

Alexis Clark:

So Connor, I have heard through the grapevine that a big initiative of yours is the Medical Practice Opportunities Directory. Can you discuss your role you play in the creation of that and what OSCEP is trying to do with that survey?

Conner Welch:

Yeah, so the Iowa Opportunities Directory is an annual report published by OSCEP, aiming to really capture the workforce needs across the state. It’s a collection of reports looking at primary care and family medicine, general internal medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB GYN, emergency medicine, psych and advanced practice providers as well. So really a wide variety. And what my role is primarily right now is in surveying medical practices across the state. Not just hospitals, but also independent practices, community health centers, VA, correctional facilities, residency programs, really just every community across the state to determine what their needs are. And so we take that data and we have, OSCEP has their own databases that we use to collect data. And then get to do a lot of Excel work and taking that data and making it more digestible for everyone and to kind of put it into these booklets. And then we follow up as well and do kind of a workforce demand analysis where we’re able to kind of identify trends year over year throughout the state. And so that in a nutshell is kind of what the Opportunities Directory is all about

Alexis Clark:

A question for both of you, and you may have no idea, but roughly if you had to estimate how many different healthcare entities or organizations there were across the state of Iowa, do you have a number, ballpark that you throw out there?

Alex Morrell:

Yeah, as far as surveying and kind of the opportunities that are out there. Yeah, so if I recall correctly, there’s about 122 hospitals or somewhere in that ballpark throughout the state. And we do survey every hospital, whether it be a large integrated health system or whether it be a critical access hospital. As well as we, we survey independent medical groups and really anyone in which they provide medical services in the state of Iowa. And so when it’s all said and done, throughout the different specialties in which Connor and mentioned, we survey thousands of people to be able to accumulate the different opportunities within the state of Iowa and being able to make sure that we’re reporting all the different openings that are currently available in the state.

Alexis Clark:

Great. That is very interesting. I think people don’t realize how many healthcare organizations there actually are in the state of Iowa, just in the immediate proximity. But looking at now, everything we’ve learned about OSCEP, what does OSCEP do or how has it ultimately playing into creating a healthier Iowa?

Alex Morrell:

Yeah. So I think the biggest thing that OSCEP does in order to make Iowa a healthier state is that OSCEP is really focused on making sure that rural health organizations have the adequate amount of providers in which they need to be able to serve these rural communities.

Alex Morrell:

And so what we do is that we work with these different healthcare organizations to be able to understand what their current workforce needs are. And then we go ahead and we publish those needs in the book and in the Opportunities Directory, excuse me. And from there current residents, as well as past residents and graduates of the Iowa program are able to see if those available opportunities within either their own state or if they decide they want to stay in the city of Iowa after graduation. From there, they’re able to then contact whether it be a recruiter, a healthcare executive, and/or provider to be able to discuss that opportunity and to be able to see that would be a good fit for them. And so I think that’s ultimately what OSCEP’s doing to be able to make sure that Iowa’s staying healthy, at least in our capacity. Just making sure that the residents have care close to home and that organizations are able to fulfill their mission through meals to make sure that they have providers in the right amounts throughout the organization.

Alexis Clark:

Great. Thank you for that. Alex, looking to you, Connor, as you still are in the early months of this role, what do you hope to learn from your experience with OSCEP?

Conner Welch:

Yeah, so, you know, kind of like we touched on with the Opportunities Directory as a whole, I think from a career development perspective, I think it’s an opportunity to work on leading a big project. One that, if you think about it, across the state has literally millions of stakeholders and then to present that information to various groups throughout the summer. I think it’s also an opportunity to just better understand the workforce needs and overall landscape of Iowa health care. And then as we spoke to, with rural health, just kind of learning more and more about rural health is something that I’m really excited about. And then finally, I think I’m excited to sit in on more of physician employment contract reviews. I think that’s a really unique opportunity and cool service that this office offers. And so to be a part of that is exciting as well.

Alexis Clark:

Yes, that does sound like a very exciting opportunity as you are still in the early stages. I know you probably don’t even know the full scope of everything you’ll be doing, but we really appreciate hearing what you’re looking forward to.

Alexis Clark:

Alex, I know you have recently finished with this role and while everyone has been dealing with COVID in their own sense, OSCEP is no different. So your time with OSCEP was very much impacted, fluent and influenced by COVID-19. I imagine getting physicians or administrators to fill out another survey was not on the top of their mind, what steps or tactics did you take to try to get the responses even during unprecedented times?

Alex Morrell:

Yeah, great question. As you mentioned, you know, COVID-19 really effected the whole state of Iowa as well as the whole country. And really when it came to OSCEP’s day-to-day operations, it was really no different. In fact when I first joined OSCEP, it was supposed to be a summer internship, but unfortunately due to COVID that was delayed a little bit. And so I wasn’t able to start in the position until later in the summer towards the end of July. And so right from the get go that kind of put us behind in being able to collect surveys. To be able to then publish our Opportunities Directory. And so, as far as being able to find creative ways to be able to get this information from providers, recruiters, and healthcare executives across the state while they were facing very challenging times with the pandemic, we actually had to go through and really change our whole method of collection.

Alex Morrell:

Before COVID-19 OSCEP very much, sent out mail-in surveys through mail, and then they’d be able to get those responses back in the mail. But we didn’t feel that may be the best way this year to be able to see collect surveys. We wanted to make it as contactless as possible. And so we actually went back through and made the surveys electronic. So they’d be able to, to go through and fill out the surveys through a PDF file and then to be able to email it back to us and/or to fax it back to us. And so that was really the major change we made as far as just our method of collection.

Alex Morrell:

As far as been able to reach providers, recruiters, and healthcare executives during a very challenging time. I would say that we were just very, very willing to give, all these people much grace. And we were really patient with them and really understanding that they weren’t able to get right back to us, that we would be able to eventually hear back from them and be able to get the opportunities which they had in their organization. And so, through a lot of phone calls, emailing, and just being able to keep kind of that open dialogue, I feel that most folks were very open to relaying kind of the different openings they had and the different needs they had in the organization. But yes, definitely it wasn’t quite as smooth and as timely as usual.

Alex Morrell:

But I think overall that these recruiters and healthcare executives and providers really see the value in the Opportunities Directory. And so I think they were able to really understand that although they’re going through a lot of challenges, that it still is important to make sure they’re able to fill those positions in their organization and to be able to continue to recruit qualified providers and advanced practitioners into their organization. And so overall, I feel that individuals are still open to having conversations with us and being able to give us the information. And so all in all, when it was all said and done, we were able to have a 100% collection rate and we’re able to get all the different opportunities in which organizations have throughout the state of Iowa.

Alexis Clark:

That, that is extremely interesting. You mentioned transitioning from mail surveying to electronic surveying. Do you know, and maybe Connor, you can answer this, is that the way moving forward? You’re going to do it completely electronic or are you guys doing a hybrid model? What’s what’s it look like for the future of OSCEP?

Conner Welch:

Yeah, we’re taking a little bit more, I guess, of a hybrid model, if you will, this year. Definitely back to mailings. We actually just mailed out a lot of surveys today, so that was kind of exciting. But definitely learned some things through COVID just with being able to get email responses or maybe looking at things like faxing and exploring different avenues, just to ensure that we get a 100% response rate to really make sure that we’re capturing what the workforce needs are in all Iowa communities across all practices. So definitely some lessons learned, but trying to get back to kind of your more traditional mail this year is the approach we’re taking at this point.

Alexis Clark:

Very interesting. So looking to both of you, since you are both pursuing a degree in health administration, what has this role taught you about the industry that you have yet to learn from coursework?

Alex Morrell:

Yeah, I think for me, if you don’t mind, I’ll jump in first here. I think for me, that something that OSCEP has really been able to teach me that may not be something that I would have gained through the courses in the MHA program, it’s just really the impact in which provider and nursing shortages have on organizations. We all the time in healthcare talk about all these different provider shortages, nursing shortages and really just overall workforce shortages within healthcare. But I think really what OSCEP was able to do for me was to really illustrate what impact this has on rural America.

Alex Morrell:

I think sometimes coming from more of a suburban location, I’m from Salt Lake City, Utah, that I didn’t really realize how many communities don’t have the adequate amount of providers within their community to be able to offer the best health care close to home. And so through this, I’ve been able to really just understand that many rural health organizations are struggling to be able to fill different positions that are absolutely critical to the residents within their community. And, really, I guess, something else I learned from that was just the resources that are available to these rural health organizations to be able to make the job a little easier and to make sure that individuals are aware of the opportunities in which these rural health organizations have and making sure that we’re able to adequately staff for those different organizations and to make sure that patients do have care close to home.

Alexis Clark:

Awesome.

Conner Welch:

I would just echo a lot of what Alex has said. I think this role is kind of unique in that we’re based out of the Carver College of Medicine with really an emphasis on collegiate outreach programs, with medical education and community service specifically, which is something where maybe not necessarily as exposed to as much in our MHA. So I think that provides an opportunity to work with residents and learn more about residency programs throughout the state. And then as Alex said, just really get a deep dive and better understanding of rural healthcare and especially related to provider shortage needs and ensuring access for rural communities across the state.

Alexis Clark:

Yeah, it’s really interesting to hear, and I’m really happy that Iowa does offer those opportunities to graduate students and specifically in the MHA program that oftentimes don’t see this side of healthcare until they’re further down into their career. So the fact that you guys are getting exposure to this now, I think will pay dividends in the long run. So the final question we like to ask on From the Front Row, and this can be in regards to any aspect of your life, not just professionally, looking at you, Alex, what is one thing you thought you knew, but were later wrong about?

Alex Morrell:

Yeah, so this one’s really kind of a simple realization, which I had since joining the MHA program. That’s really just health care’s role in the society. Before coming to the MHA program, I just always kind of suspect, or kind of felt that really a healthcare organization’s role was to be able to be a place in which individuals within the community can be able to receive care. And when people came into the, into the hospital and/or a medical group that they’re able to receive really the best healthcare possible and to be able to really be able to receive the best services in which the hospital and medical group are able to provide for that community.

Alex Morrell:

But one realization I’ve had since, as I said, joining the MHA program and kind of starting to dive more into the healthcare industry is that, although it’s really important for healthcare organizations to really offer great health care and to be able to be there as a resource when individuals in the community need them, that it really, that healthcare organizations really need to go one step further in being able to make sure that they’re a partner within the community to be able to make sure that individuals realize as to what things they can do to be able to live a healthy life. And that the hospital and medical groups are really supporting individuals quests in that. And being able to, to really not only be a resource for when they need care, but also being a resource when they don’t need care and being able to make sure that they’re taking the preventative measures and in which need to be able to live a healthy life.

Alexis Clark:

Connor, what about you? What’s one thing you thought you knew, but were later wrong about?

Conner Welch:

I can certainly go a number of directions with this. I find that I’m wrong about things every single day. But reflecting kind of on this past year and graduate school and amidst the pandemic, I think one of the things I kind of thought about the healthcare industry as a whole, or I guess something that I didn’t appreciate is just how quickly and rapidly healthcare organizations can respond to the changing needs of a community.

Conner Welch:

I think traditionally, I always thought of things is healthcare having so many moving parts and these big picture ideas and problems that take a lot of time to respond to. But whether it be like vaccination clinics or testing clinics for COVID, or just setting up, converting ICU beds and things like that, I think has been something that’s really been neat to see from, I guess, an outsider’s perspective. It’s something that I was certainly wrong about, and didn’t necessarily appreciate that kind of quick, rapid response. And I kind of think that’s a learning lesson or something to take from this pandemic or moving forward in our career is how we’re able to, to quickly respond when needed to the needs of the community.

Alexis Clark:

That’s what I believe is so special about healthcare, because as Alex said earlier, the fact that an health care organization is a partner in the community. In many times, I feel people take healthcare for granted in the United States. Maybe that’s not true for everyone, but I think in large, they get blamed for a lot and never appreciated. So when COVID did happen, I think people began to notice all of the players that were involved in making things happen and happen at a rapid rate as COVID was constantly evolving, as laws were constantly evolving.

Alexis Clark:

Well, that’s all the questions I have for both of you. I want to thank you both for taking the time out of your busy schedules to talk with me. I’ve learned a lot. I’m sure everyone listening has learned a lot. So thank you both.

Conner Welch:

Thanks Lexi.

Alex Morrell:

Thanks Lexi.

Conner Welch:

That’s it for episode this week. Big thanks to Alex and Connor for coming on with us today. This episode was hosted, written, edited, and produced by Alexis Clark.

Conner Welch:

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