Medical education through community experience: an update on the community research projects at the USDSM Sioux Falls Campus.

Abstract

Community Research Projects are a requirement and an integral part of the year long, ambulatory third-year course in Sioux Falls, SD, called Primary Care Ambulatory Program (PCAP). Since 1997, this community research project has sought to increase a student's understanding of a community health issue by allowing the student to pose and answer a research question, while providing some type of service or education to the targeted community. Projects at all three clinical campuses were previously featured in the June 2001, issue of the South Dakota Journal of Medicine. This report is an update on the activities and progress of the community research projects at the Sioux Falls campus since that initial report.